- 16 hours ago
Lennox Lewis defends the WBC Heavyweight Title against No 1. contender Zeljko Mavrovic on HBO Boxing
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00:00:00I'm the best heavyweight on the planet, and I want to consolidate all the belts together.
00:00:06Everybody keeps on ducking me. I don't know why.
00:00:10And Lennox Lewis really claimed to be king of the heavyweights?
00:00:13The boxing public is unconvinced.
00:00:15Former champions Riddick Bowe and Michael Moorer have faded, never having faced Lewis.
00:00:20Mike Tyson paid $4 million to avoid him in favor of supposedly easier matchups.
00:00:25Evander Holyfield continues his popular reign, but prices himself out of any bout with Lewis.
00:00:30And through years of title changes, upheaval, and confusion, Lewis has had his own ups and downs, but won't go away.
00:00:37The two-time heavyweight champion steps into the ring against dangerous warriors the others have ducked.
00:00:44That's it! A tremendous statement by Lennox Lewis.
00:00:48Moser pounds away, and a great right uppercut by Lewis.
00:00:51But then Lewis struggles to victory against questionable opponents.
00:00:55And there Briggs almost knocks the champion down.
00:00:58Too many power punches. Just too much punishment.
00:01:02And two most unusual decisions further blur his reputation.
00:01:06It's a bizarre scene. He's crying in his corner.
00:01:09Akanwanda just leaning all over Lewis.
00:01:12He's disqualified.
00:01:13We've had another disqualification.
00:01:15As long as Holyfield dodges Lennox, the question of who is the top heavyweight cannot be answered.
00:01:22So tonight, Lennox Lewis continues his battle for fan acceptance and his mission to force a defining matchup,
00:01:27and to be recognized as the best heavyweight in boxing.
00:01:31Watch tonight, and you decide.
00:02:04Tonight, we are live from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut,
00:02:32where HBO Sports presents World Championship Boxing.
00:02:36Tonight, for the heavyweight championship of the world,
00:02:39England's Lennox Lewis defends his version of the title
00:02:42against Croatia's undefeated and unknown Jelko Mavrovic.
00:02:47Just a couple of hours ago, a proper Native American blessing for the evening to follow.
00:02:54Sobat ni mundo.
00:02:56Mundo we go.
00:02:57Ni I O.
00:02:59Thanks to the creator.
00:03:01The creator is good.
00:03:03It is so.
00:03:03And so began here on the giant Mohegan Indian Reservation in eastern Connecticut,
00:03:11the buildup to the very first heavyweight championship fight ever to be held in Connecticut,
00:03:17the first in New England, since Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in their second meeting
00:03:23in Lewiston, Maine, 33 years ago.
00:03:27And hello again, everybody.
00:03:28I'm Jim Lampley.
00:03:29Welcome back to this edition of HBO's World Championship Boxing.
00:03:32As we continue to track the largely unrequited quest of one Lennox Lewis
00:03:36to stamp himself as the number one heavyweight in the world.
00:03:39And of course, with this bout taking place exactly a week following Evander Holyfield's
00:03:44relatively lackluster decision victory over equally unknown Vaughn Bean a week ago in Atlanta,
00:03:50the obvious motive for Lewis tonight is to provide a comparison which will shine favorably on him
00:03:55as he tries to state his case for heavyweight supremacy.
00:03:59Here to work with me, as always, HBO Boxing analyst Larry Merchant.
00:04:02Larry, we've already talked about Mavrovich as a total unknown.
00:04:06So does this stand as another one of those no-win propositions for Lewis?
00:04:11If he knocks the guy out, he wasn't facing anybody.
00:04:13If he struggles, then it's a black mark against him as a fighter.
00:04:18If Evander Holyfield can fight a stinker of a fight against a stinker of an opponent,
00:04:22he's still Evander Holyfield.
00:04:25Lennox Lewis might beat up Evander Holyfield,
00:04:27and it would be said that Evander Holyfield was just too old.
00:04:33And that's just the way it is for Lennox Lewis.
00:04:35He can take solace from the suitcases of money he's making
00:04:39and by looking at some of the plights of the American heavyweights
00:04:44who couldn't find room on their dance cards to fight him.
00:04:50Riddick Bowe, retired, has serious emotional and legal trouble.
00:04:55Mike Tyson, still in boxing's perdition, still not with a license.
00:05:02And Evander Holyfield, who has his own domestic problems.
00:05:07At the end of the day, Jim, Lennox Lewis might wind up as the only one standing by default.
00:05:13And even he would concede that if he doesn't get to fight a top guy en route to that distinction,
00:05:19it would be a hollow distinction at best.
00:05:21Indeed, as we turn to George Foreman, yet another player in the ongoing heavyweight circus,
00:05:26two-time heavyweight champion of the world.
00:05:28The obvious question Lennox articulated in that opening soundbite,
00:05:32you watch tonight and decide.
00:05:34The obvious urge to compare himself to what Holyfield did a week ago in Atlanta.
00:05:38Is that a good way to get in trouble against an unknown opponent?
00:05:40Probably a big mistake. It's like fighting in your hometown.
00:05:43You not only want to win, but you want to look good.
00:05:46This is not theater. This is not the movie.
00:05:48All you want to do is get out there and win.
00:05:50That's what he should be concerned about.
00:05:52Any other things could cause this downfall.
00:05:55Well, it's awfully difficult if you're in Lennox Lewis' position, though,
00:05:58to focus only on this fight.
00:06:00Human nature being what it is, you can totally understand the frustration
00:06:03that Lewis experiences as he continues to campaign well into his heavyweight championship tenure
00:06:09for a defining fight against Holyfield.
00:06:12I would want to fight Holyfield because of the fact that he's the world champion at the moment.
00:06:24I want to take the HR to Holyfield.
00:06:29When are you going to fight Evander Holyfield?
00:06:31The question shouldn't be that.
00:06:32When is Evander Holyfield going to fight Lennox Lewis?
00:06:35He's a boxer still in search of a career-defining fight.
00:06:39For seven years, Lennox Lewis has been unable to grab that brass ring.
00:06:44Now, he's squarely focused on Evander Holyfield
00:06:46in pursuit of a heavyweight unification bout that may never take place.
00:06:52It's very frustrating, the fact that Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield cannot fight each other.
00:06:58A lot of it is politics, but I think more so it's Evander's excessive demand for money.
00:07:03Evander simply said that he needed to get paid as much for Lennox Lewis
00:07:07as he got paid for Michael Moore.
00:07:08Because people had gone out on a limb for him with Michael Moore
00:07:12and he couldn't really hurt them by agreeing to take less for Lewis.
00:07:16The most serious negotiations for a Lewis Holyfield superfight began in December 1997,
00:07:22but quickly broke down due to Holyfield's asking price of $20 million.
00:07:27Holyfield's camp believes there were other reasons for the logjam.
00:07:31One of the major difficulties of putting that fight together,
00:07:34the exclusive contract that Lennox has with HBO.
00:07:36Evander has preferred to fight at Showtime,
00:07:39and it's well known that Don King has relationships at Showtime.
00:07:43And that works for us, but we've always steered clear of an exclusive contract with Showtime
00:07:48so that we would be free to fight anybody we wanted to fight.
00:07:51We wish Lennox Lewis had done that.
00:07:54He didn't, and that meant this fight could happen only if it happened at HBO.
00:07:58This past July, the Lewis camp reopened negotiations using a news conference in London
00:08:03as the stage for the continuing drama.
00:08:06A war of words erupted from both camps after Holyfield was offered the $20 million price to fight Lewis.
00:08:13Evander lived later. I think it fits him.
00:08:15Evander didn't duck that from 84 to 1997.
00:08:19Now, why all of a sudden, in 1998, he's going to duck somebody?
00:08:22Action speaks a lot of the words. Evander Holyfield always speaks of unifying the title.
00:08:27My goal is to be the champion.
00:08:30If that's his only goal, then why doesn't he sign the contract?
00:08:32Why doesn't he agree to the $20 million that he originally asked for?
00:08:35The Lewis team insists it faxed a contract to the Holyfield camp,
00:08:39appoint the Holyfield people dispute.
00:08:41I never got any letter. I never got anything.
00:08:43Nothing ever became realistic on a contract.
00:08:47He's dismissed it as a publicity stunt.
00:08:49It was a transparent attempt to put pressure on Don King
00:08:53to move forward in good faith to try to make this fight happen.
00:08:55So what's his excuse in that he didn't sign the contract?
00:08:57So he didn't go forward when the $20 million was offered to him?
00:09:00The negotiating don't start with me and the negotiating start with the two promoters.
00:09:04And the promoters have to work out the deal.
00:09:07Now the public sees what's going on, sees what kind of frustration my people go through.
00:09:12They can look at Evander Holyfield and say,
00:09:14well, he asked for $20 million, they gave him $20 million, now he wants $25 million.
00:09:17When we do give him $25, he's going to ask for $30 million.
00:09:20So basically, they can see that he's blowing up the smoke screen.
00:09:23Choosing sides in the war of words between Lewis and Holyfield will have to wait until tomorrow.
00:09:29Tonight, Lennox Lewis must set aside his dreams of unification
00:09:32and focus on the mandatory task at hand, Zelko Mavrovich.
00:09:37So for at least one more fight night, Lewis can only wonder what lies ahead.
00:09:41I'd like to see us handle the WBA mandatory as soon as we can.
00:09:45That would probably be early in 99.
00:09:47And then as soon after that as we can put it together, we could see Holyfield Lewis.
00:09:53Possibly as early as May, June of 99.
00:09:55That's nice, but before he said he'd like to fight it in December or January.
00:09:59So he's moved it back a few months.
00:10:00Maybe when June comes, he'll put it back to December or January of next year.
00:10:04And so the boxing world continues waiting to see if this decade's top two heavyweights will ever get it on.
00:10:11We bring it back live to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut where we're getting ready for the live battle
00:10:21between Lennox Lewis and Zelko Mavrovich, the two fighters coming out into the ring in just a few minutes.
00:10:27Meanwhile, Larry Merchant, it's obviously frustrating to boxing fans that Holyfield and Lewis occupy their time
00:10:34with opponents like Vaughn Bean and Zelko Mavrovich instead of fighting each other.
00:10:38Yesterday, when you asked Zelko Mavrovich how he thought he was qualified to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world,
00:10:44he said, well, I'm European champion and I've defended that title six times.
00:10:49Is that enough?
00:10:51Jim, he's here for two reasons and two reasons only.
00:10:56First, the most exciting heavyweights in America right now, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, are slugging it out elsewhere.
00:11:02Second, because the corrupt sanctioning bodies routinely make unknown suspects mandatory challengers.
00:11:12This makes some promoters rich and it makes the rest of us fans rich.
00:11:18What we do know about this challenger is that he comes from a very small country, Croatia,
00:11:23that produces a lot of world-class athletes.
00:11:28Tony Kukoc of the Chicago Bulls, Goran Ivanicevic, the tennis star, a soccer team that finished third in the recent World Cup.
00:11:37He is an athlete.
00:11:38He shows some boxing skills.
00:11:41He's intelligent.
00:11:42He seems very focused and he also seems unusually confident for someone who's never appeared in this class.
00:11:49What we don't know is whether he is a triple-A ball player making his major league debut in the World Series.
00:11:57We don't know, Jim, if he's a phantom or a phenom.
00:12:00No, but we can guess.
00:12:01And we're about to find out very shortly.
00:12:03And George Foreman, one of the disadvantages that Jelko Mavrovic faces as he comes in against Lewis,
00:12:08at least I see it as a disadvantage,
00:12:10he weighs 214.5 pounds.
00:12:12He's given up nearly 30 pounds in weight.
00:12:14Obviously, his plan is going to be to box and move.
00:12:17Is that the right way to fight Lennox Lewis?
00:12:19No doubt about it.
00:12:20What you want to do, though, is take advantage of Lewis' weaknesses,
00:12:23jump on him in the first couple of rounds, try to stagger him,
00:12:26and then move around the ring, make him follow you around, round by round,
00:12:30pick up the pace later on, and you may get a decision.
00:12:33But it's not an easy task that Lewis can hit.
00:12:36And Mavrovic, of course, Larry talked about his athletic talent.
00:12:39In fact, he was chosen ahead of Tony Kukoc and Goran Ivanicevic
00:12:42and all the soccer players as Croatia's outstanding athlete last year.
00:12:46And while he's facing a big challenge tonight,
00:12:49it's nothing compared to what he and his fellow Croatians have already lived through.
00:12:58When we talk about the wars a boxer has survived,
00:13:02we naturally assume those wars to have taken place inside the ropes of a boxing ring.
00:13:08Not in the boxer's backyard.
00:13:10But in 1991, heavy fighting broke out between Croats and Serbs
00:13:16throughout Zelko Mavrovic's native Croatia.
00:13:19At the age of only 21, Zelko faced a difficult decision.
00:13:23I was a military champion.
00:13:25Then war started.
00:13:26And I must say that I'm very, very sad because of those wars.
00:13:31The first moment I wanted to go into war because I was very young
00:13:35and I didn't understand much things around me.
00:13:38Then I recognized that I can help my country and myself much better with my sports career.
00:13:45Throughout his nation's struggle for independence,
00:13:48Zelko's decision not to join the army weighed heavily on his mind,
00:13:52as did the fate of his compatriots, who had taken their lives to the battlefields.
00:13:57He was thinking like he's not doing enough compared with people who got killed or who were injured.
00:14:04You know, when you compare that you're a European champion,
00:14:07it is really nothing but someone who lost his leg or arm or even got killed.
00:14:12I always think about people who was in the war.
00:14:14And I think that those people who was in war,
00:14:22especially who gave life for this country,
00:14:26it is something that we cannot compare with my boxing results
00:14:30because I'm still alive and I'm a big champion and I have a good standard of life.
00:14:37And some of those people, they don't have life.
00:14:39By 1995, Croatia had recaptured most of the territory the Serbs had occupied and destroyed four years before.
00:14:47Still, fighting may never completely end in certain parts of the country.
00:14:50And for those Croats who lived among Serbs, there are memories which will never fade.
00:14:55It is very strange even when it happens,
00:14:58because before we were normal people, people lived together,
00:15:03they were neighbors of the different nationalities,
00:15:05and no one told you that your nice neighbor who cooks coffee every morning and invites you
00:15:11can become an enemy and kill people.
00:15:16Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, escaped major damage and shows few signs of war.
00:15:2120 minutes southwest of the city, in a small village,
00:15:24Zelko prepares for his fights, complementing his home-style workouts
00:15:28with a strict diet of macrobiotic foods and different forms of massage and meditation.
00:15:34I discovered lots of things, lots of special ways of training and lots of special ways of relaxation,
00:15:42which is in very close connection,
00:15:44because after the good training, you need good relaxation
00:15:48to be better recovered for next training and faster.
00:15:52In macrobiotic, you have organic food, whole food,
00:15:56which is giving to you much more energy, much more vitamins, minerals,
00:16:04and the way how you cook that food,
00:16:07keep all these supplements inside.
00:16:11With this nutrition that I have,
00:16:13I think that nobody in the world can recover that fast like I can.
00:16:19Zagreb's only sparring opportunity takes place in a small basement gym
00:16:24with a tall, rail-thin member of Croatia's 1996 Olympic team.
00:16:29But adverse conditions are a matter of fact for athletes in Croatia
00:16:32as the nation struggles to recover from its costly war.
00:16:35I think that this country will be, in the next maybe 10, 15, 20 years,
00:16:41will be on a standard what Germany has in the moment or some other West country.
00:16:49I'm proud of my people, of my country, and I enjoy to be here.
00:16:56Whether Zelko Mavrovic stands any chance in the ring tonight is uncertain.
00:17:03But for him, his country's struggle for independence will always be bigger
00:17:07than any attainable athletic achievement.
00:17:13Back live at ringside on the tail of the tape
00:17:16between Lennox Lewis and Zelko Mavrovic.
00:17:18You can see that Mavrovic is four years younger,
00:17:21gives up an inch in height, 28.5 pounds in weight as of yesterday afternoon,
00:17:25and five inches in reach to the big cat of the heavyweight division, Lennox Lewis.
00:17:33Punch stat numbers, Larry.
00:17:34Here you see what they are, both fighters about equally active,
00:17:39Lewis more accurate.
00:17:42Many believe that the fight will be decided by Lewis's jab.
00:17:47Mavrovic has to establish his jab as well.
00:17:52And rules of the bout between Lewis and Mavrovic.
00:17:55By Harold Letterman.
00:17:56The Lennox Lewis-Zelko Mavrovic fight is scheduled for 12 rounds
00:18:00using the standardized rules for world championship fights,
00:18:04also known as the rules of the Association of Boxing Commissions.
00:18:06There is no standing eight count.
00:18:08No three knockdown rule.
00:18:10Only the referee can stop the fight.
00:18:12And it cannot be saved by the bell at any round,
00:18:14including the 12th and final rounds.
00:18:16Jim.
00:18:17All right, thanks, Harold.
00:18:20And as we get ready to bring Zelko Mavrovic into the ring,
00:18:24you saw the record of 27 wins and no losses, but against whom, you might ask.
00:18:28So we decided to show you all of these names, which for many of you will be just names.
00:18:32Maybe a couple of them stick out.
00:18:34David Bay, Kim Yulodum, further down the road, Marion Wilson.
00:18:38These are names that would be known to the best-versed of American boxing fans.
00:18:43Mark Wills.
00:18:44You might have even seen him against a couple of other top contenders,
00:18:46but at least 22 of the 27 are, to American boxing fans and probably the most European fans,
00:18:53totally anonymous.
00:18:54This incidentally is a temporary structure.
00:19:01It amounts to a large tent, but it is the most spectacular temporary tent you'll ever see
00:19:08and makes for what feels like a genuine arena for this heavyweight championship fight.
00:19:16While we're waiting for the man known to some of his friends as Zed,
00:19:21might tell you that he says the last book he read, Jim, was Dostoevsky's The Gambler.
00:19:29He's about a 7 or 8 to 1 underdog.
00:19:33Dostoevsky went broke betting on underdogs like that.
00:19:45Knockouts over the last five opponents.
00:19:47Interestingly, that weight of 214 and a half is the least he's weighed for any fight in more than three years.
00:19:55His last couple of fights he weighed on the order of 223.
00:19:59You know, he's a kind of an old counterculture character.
00:20:03That hairdo, which his girlfriend started out with something else and wound up with this.
00:20:08He eats macrobiotic, biologically or biotically, as you said earlier.
00:20:17He meditates.
00:20:18Very interesting character.
00:20:24Zelko Mavrovic with the macrobiotic diet.
00:20:2727 wins, no losses again.
00:20:2922 KOs.
00:20:30First time in a championship fight, and some around him say that he seems a little uptight as he faces the pressures of this event.
00:20:38In the profile piece, you met the girlfriend, Yelena Balabana,
00:20:42who, for reasons apparent right there, has made quite a splash here in Connecticut.
00:20:47Not only that, but she's an amateur astrologist who was very honest.
00:20:51When I asked her about it just a few minutes ago, she said this is not the best time for him, but he can still win.
00:21:01Aquarius Sun, Scorpio rising.
00:21:05That would be Zelko, not Yelena.
00:21:08We hope it's not Scorpio falling.
00:21:11And next to enter the ring.
00:21:25And whose hairstyles now look relatively normal by comparison to Mavrovic.
00:21:31Virgo Sun, Lennox Lewis.
00:21:34The pressure is on Lennox Lewis, but great athletes make opportunity out of pressure.
00:21:56Right, George?
00:21:57Yeah, that's one thing about being an underdog.
00:22:01All the pressure is off.
00:22:02Virgo Sun is a great athlete.
00:22:04Has Lennox earned, in your view, the title of great fighter, George?
00:22:09He's in a strange situation.
00:22:10He's heavyweight champ for the world, but he doesn't even seem to know it.
00:22:13He keeps referring to the other guys as the champions.
00:22:16He should stop that.
00:22:18Just recognize who he is for himself.
00:22:2033 wins, one loss.
00:22:22It took him a long time to live down that surprise knockout at the hands of Oliver McCall,
00:22:27later avenged in the strange defeat of an obviously disturbed McCall.
00:22:32Five of those knockouts in the first round, including the thunderous one against Andrew Galata a year ago.
00:22:37While you're watching the fight, log on to HBO's comprehensive boxing website at www.hbo.com.
00:22:43You can check in on stats, compare how you score the fight with other fans across the country.
00:22:49And now let's go up the ring announcer, Michael Buffer, for the pre-fight introduction.
00:22:53Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mohegan Reservation, here in the heartland of Connecticut, USA,
00:23:00home of the Mohegan Sun Casino, where tonight, main events, panics, promotions,
00:23:07and your undisputed, undefeated king of beers, Budweiser.
00:23:11This, Buds for you, present 12 rounds of boxing for the WBC Heavyweight Championship of the World.
00:23:23Pensioned by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Commission, chairman, Roland Harris,
00:23:28and the state of Connecticut Athletic Commission.
00:23:31Commissioner, Mark Schifrin.
00:23:33Executive Director, John Burns.
00:23:35Timekeeper at the bell, Lou Dell.
00:23:37Counting for the knockdown seconds, Michael Ortega.
00:23:40Your physicians in attendance at ringside, Dr. Michael Schwartz, Dr. Anthony Alessi,
00:23:47and Dr. Joseph Carpentieri, along with Dr. Walter Ielachi.
00:23:53This bout is also sanctioned by the World Boxing Commission.
00:23:56President in attendance tonight, Jose Suleiman.
00:23:59Supervisor for the WBC is its General Secretary, Mario Latroverse.
00:24:05The three judges scoring this bout on a 10-point bus system will be Francisco Ciminale of Italy,
00:24:14Tommy Kazmarek from the USA, and Bob Logis of Belgium.
00:24:19And when the bell rings, your referee in charge of the action from the United States,
00:24:24Frank Cappuccino.
00:24:26And now, ladies and gentlemen, for the thousands in attendance,
00:24:31and the millions watching around the world,
00:24:34Good luck.
00:24:37Let's get ready here on board!
00:24:46Introducing first, in the blue corner,
00:24:48wearing white and weighing 214 and one-quarter pounds,
00:24:53he comes to the ring with a perfect professional record,
00:24:56consisting of 27 straight victories,
00:24:5922 of which are by knockout.
00:25:01He has traveled thousands of miles
00:25:03and waited his entire career for this moment.
00:25:07Ladies and gentlemen,
00:25:08from Zagreb, Croatia,
00:25:11here is the former undefeated European heavyweight champion
00:25:15and the WBC number one-ranked heavyweight challenger in the world,
00:25:22Choco Malroni!
00:25:33And across the ring,
00:25:35in the red corner,
00:25:36wearing white,
00:25:37trimmed with red,
00:25:38weighing 243 pounds.
00:25:41He comes to the ring tonight
00:25:42with an outstanding professional record.
00:25:45Since capturing Olympic gold in 1988,
00:25:48he has 23 professional victories,
00:25:5127 by knockout,
00:25:53with only one defeat,
00:25:55and that defeat has been abandoned.
00:25:57From London, England,
00:25:59presenting
00:25:59the two-time heavyweight world champion,
00:26:03the reigning and defending
00:26:05WBC heavyweight champion of the world,
00:26:10Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le'Veux Le
00:26:41both of you touch gloves touch gloves touch gloves the buck i leave it with you
00:26:51lennox lewis might be the best heavyweight in the world but he also might be one punch
00:26:57away from disaster and it's that perceived vulnerability all the way makes each of his
00:27:03fights so tantalizing
00:27:14jenna briggs managed to get lewis in trouble in his last fight for which i think lewis trained
00:27:20to fight about a minute ultimately wasn't able to put briggs away until the fifth but
00:27:26his punching power will make the difference against most of his opponents and of course
00:27:31lewis goes into every fight george trying to remember to throw his jab and looking to land
00:27:36this big right hand yeah by nature he's got this confidence almost a little bit of conceit that he
00:27:41does not have to start the fight off and land the first punch it gets him into a lot of trouble as
00:27:46you can see his opponent came out saved him and made him get on the run only because he doesn't feel
00:27:53like he should take charge quick lewis dropping a right hand to the body as though he wants to bring
00:27:58maverick maverick maverick's left down but look at how low maverick holds the left i mean if ever an
00:28:03opponent for lewis has been open to the right hand it appears this is the guy well they're bleeding in
00:28:08the nose already by maverick hey listen right away maverick is fighting in an unexpected style
00:28:16forcing the issue yeah he's taking he's taking charge you know the old saying is someone has got to land
00:28:22the first punch he may as well be the heavyweight champ for the world why should you wait and count
00:28:30doesn't matter who it is if he's 200 pounds throws enough shots at you he's going to get you
00:28:35and in the first round lewis just doesn't take a good punch
00:28:40he doesn't know how to fight tall he's a big tall man he should just stand up straight
00:28:45make punches just break hit him on the chest that's a good point he doesn't use his height
00:28:49advantage as much as some of his critics think that he should he flattens himself out by spacing
00:28:54his feet extremely wide apart and then leaning over to the opponent sometimes as well and so it's
00:28:59causing he won't be in a lot of awkward positions but if he just stand tall take charge and let that
00:29:05jail fly out thank you every now and then do some things good right hand by lewis that time
00:29:10lewis looking just to land here in the first round he's only thrown one real all-out hard right hand
00:29:16there he throws to the body again you don't often see lennox using the right hand of the body and
00:29:20there's a combination by maverick as he tries to step up the intensity sticks the jab right into lewis's
00:29:26face he's doing everything he ought to do in the first round because that's when lewis is really weak
00:29:32now lewis should be landing the left jabs to the chest now he shouldn't aim his shots to the head right
00:29:36now this guy's head's going to be a little elusive because he's smaller
00:29:43elko maverick able to land in the first round as did shannon briggs in the last lewis assignment
00:29:49briggs landed more than 60 percent of the punches he tried in round number one shilko's accuracy might
00:29:54be as high though he's not throwing as many punches as briggs did in that early flurry against lewis
00:30:01lewis is already starting to lean back as though he's a big counter puncher now
00:30:05throws his jab and step back that could be dangerous here's a guy who's small he's quick
00:30:11he can catch him on the way back well it's interesting lennox from the beginning of his
00:30:17professional career has been described by larry merchant as a natural counter puncher
00:30:21he's trained by a guy emmanuel steward who specializes in attacking fighters
00:30:26he's trying to get a right hand over top jabbing up high you understand when you break up the right
00:30:39hand he's trying to keep jabbing it up last and keep your right hand in here don't get it out
00:30:43because you're gonna catch him when he's talking because if he runs in that he's like that right
00:30:46right through the middle
00:31:03get him in and out the first five rounds and you can start taking over he's blowing now all right
00:31:07all right don't start with the big shots early on roll roll roll us all the time
00:31:11us all the room stay snapped 40 shots on the point and bring it down the middle come back with a hook
00:31:23all right copy box numbers in round number one lewis was 14 of 43 throwing 28 jabs
00:31:29napovic 7 of 22. carol lederman gave the first round to lennox lewis
00:31:36now lewis is starting to throw the jab brought to chestner
00:31:41when you're fighting someone who has no fear of you
00:31:45you're just gonna have to take charge and make him back up for a couple of rounds
00:31:48maybe we're just starting to take charge of his jab already now so you're saying that maverick
00:31:59is fighting as though he has no fear of lennox he has no fear as a matter of fact he's going to the
00:32:04body with the proper jab execution and he steps to his left lewis pretty much doesn't know what he's
00:32:13going to do he goes to the left and then he backs up as though he's got this right hand waiting now
00:32:19when maverick moves to his left and and in the fights that we saw on tape he seems to move almost
00:32:24exclusively to his left when he moves sideways he's going toward lewis's right hand bad idea or a good
00:32:30idea lewis has a good right hand but it takes him a little time to get his confidence up to start
00:32:35throwing that right hand so it's not like you ought to be afraid in a few rounds first few rounds
00:32:41he is actually stepping with his jab he pushes off on his right foot and steps in as though he
00:32:48wants that jab over the right eye of the challenger i don't know how bad it is yet but i do see some
00:32:55blood so now lewis is starting to use his height advantage a little bit he jabs and he doesn't step
00:33:01too far back just stay there solid jab and right hand by lewis a couple of uh sequences ago and you can
00:33:07see the little trickle of blood above the right eyelid of maverick that larry pointed out he
00:33:12insisted to us in our fighter meeting yesterday that he has never really been cut in the ring stop
00:33:18so if in fact that's a cut above the right eye it would be a first and lewis has given his opponent a
00:33:23lot of confidence unnecessary he's going to make it rough for him because he backs up you don't want to
00:33:29back up is lewis showing too much respect to maverick too much respect and this it creates a tough fight
00:33:34for you make him back up most of the time step forward with your jab bumping bumping with your
00:33:41big extra weight make him decide hey i'm getting tired i gotta move out of the way it's like just a
00:33:45tiny pinhole cut above maverick's right eye but it is above the eyelid so if it widens and blood flows
00:33:52it could conceivably affect maverick's vision on the jab side for lewis lewis goes wisely back to
00:33:59the body with his jab on rare occasions lewis will flange the left hook that was such an important
00:34:08weapon for him in his win over tommy morrison a few years back step back step back he would probably
00:34:15like to see more of the left hook from lewis but basically let's face it this is a jab and right hand
00:34:20fighter jelena balabani with plenty to applaud as her man makes it safely through the first couple
00:34:27of rounds and seems to be establishing himself in there join us next saturday night with a rebroadcast
00:34:33of last week's welterweight championship fight between oscar de la hoya and julio cesar chavez
00:34:37action-packed with an ending that surprised most at ringside also featured in this world championship
00:34:43boxing telecast a live junior lightweight championship bout between junior lightweight title holder jenaro
00:34:48hernandez and 1996 olympic bronze medalist lloyd mayweather unbeaten in the early stages of his
00:34:55stages of his pro career that all begins at 10 15 bm eastern 7 15 pacific time
00:35:01you can't go to your place you know you can do 12 13 rounds like that okay i'll see him all the time
00:35:09that's nothing to worry about get on with your job you're doing great let's go seconds let's go
00:35:14on that point don't run that next don't go right there
00:35:17everything can show that he can fight a little he's gonna have to fight a lot
00:35:23to change this fight around well he's not busy enough to be winning rounds he threw only 21 total
00:35:28punches by copybox numbers in round two and lewis threw 32 jabs among his 41 punches
00:35:35now lewis starts to take charge a little bit he's not stepping backwards rubbing his back on the
00:35:39rope like a small man he's looking like a big man there and i think it's the best thing that could
00:35:44happen to maverick and i said that threat he goes back to the corner he's facing some adversity now
00:35:49he knows hey look i've been pulling it out they're not going to give me anything you're doing a
00:35:53heck of a job on the maverick george and there's the jab of lewis snap oh a good right hand by the
00:35:59maverick yep maverick came over the top of that right hand just the way von bean launched right
00:36:05hands over the top last week against evander holyfield
00:36:08lewis misses with the right sticks a little left in maverick's face
00:36:18and the crowd ringside canting jelko jelko lewis has done nothing to make this guy come on
00:36:26you guys he seems to go in a proper circle he jab they jab nothing goes out of the ordinary you should
00:36:33step to his right every now and then took lewis's own right throw a right hand throw things off a little
00:36:38bit and make it hard for the less experienced fight
00:36:47joko maverick probably the first vegetarian to fight in a heavyweight championship fight
00:36:54let him out let him out let him out his macrobiotic diet consists of fish vegetables and fruits lots of tofu
00:37:00all right this guy's taking charge of the fight now lewis is the one holding on seriously holding on
00:37:12georgia if jelko maverick upsets lennox lewis are you going to start grilling tofu on your uh outdoor
00:37:18barbecue grill no no no no no no tofu drills up very nicely it's nice for those who like it
00:37:24all right great step back step back
00:37:33now the left jab start to double up with lennox lewis he doesn't do anything afterwards you got
00:37:38to jab jab and then secure your position in the ring so that the other guy backs away great why not
00:37:44throw three or four jabs and then a right cross on a left hook i mean the guy is standing there more or
00:37:48less open he hangs his chin out now he's got his hands farther up but a lot of the time maverick
00:37:53has his hands down near his waist george as as of course lennox does right there yeah so there's no
00:37:58reason to be extra careful
00:38:00at some point lennox lewis is gonna have to just decide hey i'm the big champion now he pushes him away a
00:38:12little bit lewis a noted dress player went away from the ring has played three rounds of chess with jelko
00:38:21maverick
00:38:33you may have gotten because you're throwing the right hands and you're still in the right hands
00:38:36if you got a storm you're turning something to make him put throwing something in the right hand
00:38:40shield it come back with your straight right hand you understand you got to make him put on that left
00:38:44hand right now either throw a check hook you see it coming throw the check hook either shield it and come
00:38:48back like the wrong way okay don't look your hands in kitchen because he's got that long reach
00:39:00you gotta hustle with him all the time okay his mouth already dropping his hands been shooting his jab
00:39:09it's about as hard a jab as he throws maverick as you can see trying to throw a right hand over it
00:39:16his obvious strategy of this fight so far is trying to land right hands thinking that that's where
00:39:25lewis is most vulnerable hard right hand over the top by lewis backs maverick up another right hand
00:39:31knocks him into the corner most aggressive posture so far for lewis that's a no-no man
00:39:39i think lewis should try to get in the fight and let the knockout happen by itself
00:39:43you might have a cut lands for maverick i mean lands for lewis as maverick was coming in all right
00:39:48stop you start trying to force a knockout too early the guy survives and then you have a real fight on
00:39:53your hand let that right hand just slide out out of the out of pure and natural flow of things not just
00:39:58pressing harold how'd you score the first three hey jim i think i just saw two fights the first three
00:40:03rounds and then the fourth is another fight and the first three rounds lennox looked like a days ago
00:40:08lay out of two one lewis but i want to tell you in the fourth round he's certainly picking up the
00:40:11pace i mean he's making a different fight all together he's going out he's throwing shots
00:40:15look at that jump on him right there right here let's get him loose the first time they thought
00:40:19uh maverick stole by dropping right hands on lewis because he looked very like a days ago but
00:40:23the fourth round it's a different lewis the thing about it though you 240 some more pounds maybe 50
00:40:29about 90 you don't want to waste a lot of energy slinging those big white right hands it comes
00:40:34back to haunt you if this guy's able to survive let them flow naturally
00:40:46all right great both of you all of the people around lewis expected to be going some rounds
00:40:51tonight less haven't gone more than five rounds in more than three years no no no no that's a no no
00:40:57one next watch it back in a little good left jab you gotta learn how to stay in the pocket you step
00:41:03and you slide so you don't have to worry about the guy's camera right hand this is what lewis need
00:41:08to do get in the pocket don't move back afterwards slide forward but to the left a little bit
00:41:18problem with lewis gorgeous he's got those size 16 boats on his feet hard for him to move around
00:41:25well it takes a little courage to stay in that pocket it's like a quarterback
00:41:32can't have any fear you gotta believe
00:41:36good left hook by maverick and another left hand stop stop break
00:41:44so just as other lewis opponents have found him easy to find in there guys have landed at significant
00:41:52connect rates against lewis and maverick is landing close to 40 percent of his punches coming into
00:41:57this round just not throwing all that many he was only averaging 21 punches per round in the first three
00:42:04can't that doesn't get it guys no it's not busy enough right hand over the top glancing land for
00:42:10maverick lewis ties him up this has been by far the most aggressive round in the fight
00:42:15for the champion lennox lewis
00:42:21maverick has done a good job
00:42:23that was a good right hand
00:42:28and coming up december 8 hbo sports presents the next edition of sports of the 20th century
00:42:33sugar ray robinson the bright lights and dark shadows of the champion a documentary that traces the triumphs
00:42:39and tragedies of the boxers so many experts call the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time
00:42:45winner of six world titles and 175 fights in his career robinson robinson outside the ring was a
00:42:52fearless and flashy showman whose final days were marked by sickness and poverty sugar ray robinson the
00:42:58bright lights and dark shadows of a champion coming december 8th on hbo
00:43:18george as i want the team's rounds i tried to project
00:43:22evander holyfield against lewis coming at him as he as he does as we know he would
00:43:28what do you see happening there is lewis not prepared for that kind of pressure i think so it
00:43:33just hit the corner tonight is unpredictable he's coming in a lot lighter lewis has evidently been
00:43:38training with bigger guys so he can't get the rhythm on this guy he's a little quick it's gonna take
00:43:43a moment you gotta bump him and bump into him and let him feel that extra weight that you have
00:43:48lewis hasn't done that with holyfield i think he'd be more predictable
00:43:55that lands for lennox lewis what's the question in a fight between lewis and holyfield is who would
00:44:00attack who well you know holyfield attack break yeah i think so let him out let him out
00:44:08here marovic has played the role of counterpuncher and occasionally flurries let him go
00:44:14come on when he does but still doesn't throw nearly as many punches as the champion let's
00:44:19lose the holding case in point round four 42 punches thrown by lewis only 19 counted by copy
00:44:26box for maverick hard uppercut snaps maverick's head up lewis can win this fight with his left
00:44:32jab i don't know why he doesn't continue to throw it they need the extra power that he keeps humbling
00:44:38in like well he often forgets to throw the jab as frequently as his trainer emmanuel steward would
00:44:43like for him too and when he fails to throw it right hand by the challenger when other guys land
00:44:48against him that's what's the case there let him down let him out let him out let him out
00:44:52also must step with him come on let's step in a circle when i say break it's called a tight tight circle
00:44:57so that the guy has to move or miss he throws the jab and stands there
00:45:09when he throws the jab as he's been doing here for the last 20 seconds the opponent doesn't get
00:45:14off many shots in return as you can see has been the case here all he has to do is throw it he doesn't
00:45:20even have to land it chokes off his opponent's front out look great you know the reality is that
00:45:25lewis is landing almost all good body shot right hand to the bottom of the right punches
00:45:33that's about as good a body punches i've ever seen lennox lewis throw it happened almost as an accident
00:45:39and this kid is still hurting by it you don't want to go right back to it now you just he's got his hands
00:45:45lord so that you can throw the right hand right to the head now
00:45:58lewis's right hand goes straight through the guard of zelphil malavich
00:46:04one of the dangers when you have the kind of thunder in the right hand that lewis believes he has is
00:46:08that you start out right hand crazy and stay that way that's why he's got a body shot by lewis
00:46:13step stop he's showing more of his weapons in the last round and a half and plus he's bumping
00:46:18this guy he's using his extra weight bump into him and you miss him let him feel his big body
00:46:23landed another right uppercut as the round came to a close
00:46:28and the challenger seems to stagger to his corner for whatever reason he doesn't counterpoint he's a good
00:46:35guy coming forward but when you come to him you don't counterpoint okay he does not counterpoint so when you
00:46:40go into him all he's doing is trying to anticipate your move he does not get on the counter punch in
00:46:45the state of mind so keep taking the fight to him because he cannot counter punch once you go forward
00:46:51the whole fight changes his whole complexion so keep taking him plus you're taking your weight right
00:46:56into the right hand underneath this amount of time with the left shoulder he's gonna come in
00:47:01and hit those right hands because he's not seeing you out of it you know you're waiting and waiting
00:47:06you gotta hustle up with medium shots when he opens up he's open you can hit him yes all right and he
00:47:12don't take that over here you see him real good uppercut inside and here's that body shot we were
00:47:19pointing out before before that was just a replay of your uppercut
00:47:25goodbye body shot linux lewis corner gave him some good advice said this guy does not count the punch
00:47:32well keep taking the fight to him and lewis lands the right hand to open the round and comes back to
00:47:38the right and the left and now maverick just punch output is down to about zero as lewis attacks and lands
00:47:45another uppercut
00:47:51low blow by lewis high break stop break another bite when he takes the uh the aggressors aggressive and
00:47:59keeps his opponent on the court he managed to have pointed out that whenever lennox is
00:48:05break the opponent isn't doing much there's another sizzling uppercut and this time maverick
00:48:12leans on lewis as though for support that was a blunt flush uppercut that landed and stop
00:48:20maverick is tweaking these punches reasonably well but you wonder how long that will be the case
00:48:26stop break as i said earlier you've got to take it to lewis in the first couple of rounds in the
00:48:31lateral rounds you move take care of yourself and then wait and come on again later on
00:48:37now he's using those big long arms when the challenger throws he just throws his arms up
00:48:44break break yeah the recent blueprint for how to fight lewis was established by ray mercer
00:48:49in his 10-round decision lost to lewis may 10 1996 in madison square garden the last time lewis
00:48:55went the distance it was a very close fight lewis got the decision by piling up points on his jab but
00:49:01a lot of people thought mercer could have gotten the decision and he landed a lot of blows against
00:49:06lewis by slipping lennox's jab and firing his own could have been the best thing for lennox lewis now
00:49:12he knows about adversity knows he's not going to be given everything just because you're champion
00:49:17no no no no no let him go let him go lennox
00:49:25maverick has a red line across the bridge of his nose and swelling around the right eye but still no
00:49:31flow of blood from the cup we saw in the first couple of rounds of the fight that body punch of lewis
00:49:37changed a lot of stuff there now maverick has been trying to hide a lot more ever since that body punch
00:49:46it takes a while sometimes big guys hit you around the reels break
00:49:58and the advantage for lennox lewis is that he's fighting europe a lot so he's accustomed to that
00:50:02stand-up style and doesn't get perplexed he's not things are not getting hard to understand and if lennox
00:50:14was showing maverick's respect earlier in the fight he certainly isn't now look where he's
00:50:18holding his hands george it's as though he sees this as target practice
00:50:26maverick hardly threw any punches in that round
00:50:30october brings to hbo a month full of boxing beginning next saturday night with the double
00:50:34head of the features veteran janara hernandez defending his junior lightweight title against
00:50:37undefeated 1996 olympic bronze medalist lloyd mayweather and the rebroadcast of last week's thrilling
00:50:43welterweight championship battle between oscar delahoy and julio cesar chavez a much better fight
00:50:48than we expected then on october 24 boxing after dark presents a lightweight matchup between former
00:50:53champs gabe willis and jesse james leja along with 1996 olympic gold medalist david reed
00:50:58taking on james coker to finish off the month on october 31 featherweight champion prince nasim hamed
00:51:04beats irish rival wayne mccullough three big october nights of boxing that you won't want to miss all coming
00:51:11up on hbo keep the pressure maverick fought that last round here's the pressure as long as you
00:51:19got to back it up he's two he's really confused that keep him confused as i was saying maverick
00:51:25fought that last round almost as if he was conceding he only threw 15 punches by copybox numbers now he
00:51:33comes out and starts round seven with a couple of blows as though he wants to reestablish himself in the
00:51:38fight but lewis had an easy time of it in round six landing 16 of 38 mostly power shots harold
00:51:45lederman how do you have it through six jim 59 55 five rounds to one lennox lewis the only round that
00:51:51gives up to maverick is to throw ground i thought in the sixth round i mean lennox gave a terrible beating
00:51:57maverick did absolutely nothing in that sixth round it seems that when lennox hits him with that that left
00:52:02jim and and maverick feels the power he just stops punching goes into a defensive mark like he is
00:52:08now george lennox lands every uppercut is that because maverick holds his hands wide apart it's
00:52:13because early on lennox lewis was stepping back this time he's holding his ground and he just let it fly
00:52:20this could happen a lot earlier let him go lennox let him go why he was stepping back i don't know once he
00:52:25found the uppercut it was like the genie in the bottle now now maverick lands an uppercut of his
00:52:30own and says here's another one but lewis just give him the elbows and say back away
00:52:37and i think that come on should move around there let this guy step back and feel the uh consequences
00:52:43of being out there from two more rounds and then jump back on lewis as lennox is raking him he hit the
00:52:49body with the left hook and now just landed another uppercut and you're right maverick's mobility is going
00:52:54in the way and you'll need it you shouldn't he shouldn't take it you shouldn't bring it on to
00:52:59him as much the one the good thing that maverick is doing so far is that he is avoiding lennox lewis's
00:53:08for some reason he has a little neck to be out of the way you know he is concentrated on trying to
00:53:14land his own right and trying to block or get away from lennox lewis's right now lewis is standing his
00:53:20grounds with those big arms put him up over his head great that's an awful hard defense to penetrate
00:53:29flush on the jaw of lewis may have done nothing more than to wake the champion up a little bit
00:53:35two uppercuts landing flush for maverick and another and a right cross and a left hook
00:53:41and suddenly it's all maverick as he lands flush on lennox lewis with a series of combinations
00:53:50and now lewis cuts loose with a right cross that backs maverick back up
00:54:12stop stop stop stop great boy that's when it gets to be rough when a guy 240 somewhat pounds
00:54:24starts leaning on you proud pleasing round for yelena balobonic and all the maverick supporters in
00:54:32connecticut can they hear it all in the light of croatia
00:54:39i told you they'll be down up in the air use it
00:54:41we have maverick through 54 punches bang bang bang bang underneath how do you feel okay
00:54:48you're all right five rounds to go
00:54:53you're supposed to fight
00:55:11there's that rally that started in the middle of the ring and went on to the ropes
00:55:16maverick landing a series of good punches but taking one in his own late in the round
00:55:24a good left followed by a stiff right and you heard emmanuel stewart saying to lewis
00:55:30get him out of here lewis didn't like what happened in that round i'm sorry stewart did
00:55:38i can't imagine lewis liked it that much either
00:55:40everything was going lewis's way got a little lackadaisical quite a few punches
00:55:48the other round that goes by the challenger profits
00:55:57right hand landed maverick has taken those right hand shots pretty well when they found the target
00:56:05all right stop emmanuel stewart asking lewis to go ahead and get him out of there what would be the
00:56:10best way to get him out of here he's gonna have to put one two three together it's not gonna happen
00:56:14with the one two shot that he's trying you gotta fake your right hand throw one two first and then
00:56:20come back with one two three you'll get it this old methodical one two this challenge is willing to
00:56:27take that shot is three the left hook that lennox is so often reluctant to throw yeah is that that left
00:56:33hit and there it is he lands the left hook this time there you got four shots at time there you go
00:56:38combination landing on the face of maverick
00:56:48another uppercut lands for lewis as he lures maverick into coming forward
00:56:55every now and then lewis doesn't look so why shouldn't he throw something
00:56:59lewis actually blocked a punch that guy stop stop let him go
00:57:02maverick landed the second one
00:57:09good right hand by the challenger stop stop break break
00:57:16lewis long is standing a little taller he wouldn't have to worry about those right hands
00:57:20he has a tendency to just stick his head right out there and he should be sticking his hand
00:57:24yeah and when he sets his feet as wide apart as is sometimes the case he isn't six feet four
00:57:32anymore oh you're wildly six six foot four and don't use it
00:57:39stop break let him go let him go let him go lennox let him go zilko
00:57:44stop break break right hand by maverick uppercut by lewis answers stop punching stop
00:57:59punching find out what kind of shape these fighters are in maverick been training for 11 months and
00:58:07it appears to be a little good pressure yeah he's paid his dude he's lost the weight
00:58:11let him go lennox you're still holding lewis is over in the trainer
00:58:20well there are an awful lot of fighters in the heavyweight division who are asleep now
00:58:23as the result of that in particular lewis right hand but maverick took it
00:58:27listen you heard him a couple of times then but he's seen that right hand come and he's
00:58:41trying his own right hand underneath try and fake him with the right hand and hit him with the left
00:58:45up or if you move the left uppercut because he's open as he comes in he's blowing really tired now
00:58:50breathe up come on breathe up come on come on breathe up we're still in this fight come on
00:58:54come on come on if you want to go to get the power stay with the speed and have your balance
00:59:13there's a good uppercut by lewis perhaps his most effective blow in this fight since he
00:59:19started landing a lot of jabs earlier
00:59:28emmanuel stewart said that this challenger was very very difficult to look good against
00:59:36he had some awkward athletic skills and he's obviously pretty tough ombre takes a good punch
00:59:44in supreme condition steward looks like a prophet right now he's the one who said
00:59:49that he thought maverick would be lewis's toughest opponent since the mercer fight and a lot of
00:59:54people laughed at that particularly considering the fact that there were no shortage of pundits who
00:59:59picked andrew galata to beat lewis a year ago before lewis knocked him out in the first but maverick
01:00:04has been difficult for the champion that's the hook that's making a difference now lewis would think
01:00:11sometimes his right hand gets famous and then throw the hook stop the guy clinches he knows the
01:00:16right hand is coming he prepares for the shot just think and then come back with the hook you got to
01:00:22be right hand conscious when you're facing lennox lewis that's why his left hook should be effective
01:00:28but then you train you have a training camp all training camp worry about the right hand worry about
01:00:32the right hand doesn't hurt as much
01:00:39all right stop running his corner told him to step back kind of faint a little bit yeah maverick's
01:00:45corner asking him to fake with the right hand and throw a left which he just did
01:00:50lewis whenever he steps forward drops his hand and lowers his body
01:01:05low blow again by lewis on the offside away from cappuccinos oh now he talks
01:01:11good morning who me yeah comes right back with his jab he can do this all night why he chooses not
01:01:24to is a strange thing as long as you have a good left jab you don't have to get into a fight
01:01:33well evander holyfield went 12 rounds and von bean last weekend stop didn't knock him down until the
01:01:41very late round lennox lewis has never in his career scored a knockout past the eighth round he knocked
01:01:47out phil jackson of miami in the eighth round a few years back so if all goes according to form it looks
01:01:53like lewis like holyfield a week ago is headed for a route going performance against a relatively unknown
01:02:00challenger now he's using his legs jabbing sometimes you have to concede i'm not going to get a knockout
01:02:07betty's you don't have to box you can still earn your money boxing well and when he stands up tall
01:02:15uses his stature moves on his feet and fires his jab who's going to beat him no one the guy has
01:02:22has the whole package he only decides to use it he allows this guy to just stand in front of him
01:02:34look beautiful around now you're fighting like i said you're tired but you're fighting while you're
01:02:39tired okay boxing good when you start doing different things with this man it confuses
01:02:43he never counter punches you as long as you punch the most he'll try to do is make you miss if you keep
01:02:47punching you don't have to worry about getting in with him he only punches when you sit and you lay in a
01:02:51roll so you wait on him if you keep being with him he won't punch this is a punch we haven't seen
01:02:57thanks little feature very often in the past but his awkward opponent is coming in
01:03:04it's in such a unorthodox way that's what seems open three rounds come on let's see it we want to see
01:03:14it come on come on actually three good rounds okay if you want to win this card you got a free good
01:03:21round awesome side to side it's home come on come on come on all the way back
01:03:30well so in case you're wondering whether the scoring might be close going into the 10th round you would
01:03:36note that copy box numbers have lewis throwing 150 more punches than his opponent to this point in the
01:03:43bout harold how do you have it through nine jim i'll tell you i don't think it's close at all even in that
01:03:47big seventh round that zelka maverick had at the end of the round lennox blasted him with a right
01:03:51hand that had maverick so hard he was hanging on for dear life i got it eight rounds to one 89 82
01:03:58lennox i think he's walking away with it back i think this guy being the lighter guy has just got
01:04:03to go out there and start drawing some punches lennox the big guy ponderous as heck with a slow pushing jab
01:04:08he's still out punching him by a mile it's all lance lewis based on being punching lewis is starting to
01:04:14come back with his left hook now every now and then and it makes a difference no question in fact three
01:04:19if he knocks the guy out which at this point looks unlikely but if he does get the knockout
01:04:24i'll predict it's going to come off of a left hook or an uppercut not the crushing right hand
01:04:29well unless he throws up one after another stepping back there's another flush let him go lennox doesn't say
01:04:37much about the grab marriage the graphic maverick maverick maverick maverick then he keeps getting hit
01:04:45with that point well he's determined and for that reason he's standing right in front of lewis
01:04:52behind his head he just takes advantage of it he stands so tall he can see you when you duck
01:04:58and he keeps his left hand low and right hand low sometimes he'll come right back up
01:05:05let him out let him out let him go break stop
01:05:10maverick trying his own uppercut as frank cappuccino good right hand right hand lead lands for zelko
01:05:17because lewis stands around and just stands in front of him and say come on do something
01:05:21standing around with his hands below his waist tempting fate is lennox lewis
01:05:33you're gonna be careful when he decides to pick him up to his chest
01:05:37now lewis is starting to coast a little bit he's boxing and coasting this is when the danger
01:05:49and strike danger for him lennox lewis because he's coasting without anything in mind
01:05:59and this is what you want can you a challenger to catch a champion coasting and just attach him
01:06:04attack it go for broke doesn't matter if you get cut go for broke relatively slow-paced
01:06:10heavyweight title fight going into the closing rounds
01:06:15lennox lewis bouncing popping the jab occasionally posting on what would appear to be a solid lead
01:06:21on the scorecards against zelko maverick he's going he's playing with fire dropping his hand
01:06:29down his hands shouldn't be down
01:06:38okay you're not throwing anything he's doing his business and he's so glad and tired and you'll
01:06:45let him get away with him he's laughing and smiling you know why he's laughing smiling because he knows
01:06:50that he can kick to you and you're not shooting in the back he's tired he's definitely tired
01:06:55i'm not going to say he's very tired
01:07:00take the time now go back short shots now short shot the little right in the lead is working too
01:07:05now he's tired he can't see it keep doing all those different things that you're making him have to
01:07:10move and he's not just here you see the right hand that maverick landed but he doesn't follow up
01:07:17with anything a he's not a big puncher and lewis knows it and b he's not doing anything about it
01:07:34elena balabonics not quite as happy as was the case back in round number seven when she thought
01:07:38her man had it going and you heard darkie smith scathingly attacking his fighter between rounds saying
01:07:46you're making it easy for him both trainers telling their fighters that the opponent is tired
01:07:53probably right after all they've gone 10 break breaks starting to land a good right hand here and
01:07:59there he doesn't come back with anything
01:08:04if he tried to throw three shots it'd be a little better
01:08:09when you're fighting a guy who throws one shot at a time like that you just wait
01:08:12just brace yourself and do what you're going to do stop break break
01:08:20and we go back to the theme that began the evening
01:08:29if lewis's job was to galvanize public support for the notion that evander holyfield absolutely must
01:08:36sign the fighting because he's so good it's unlikely it seems to me that he's made that case effectively
01:08:43with the public tonight i think you should forget about him down the holy field and just have a
01:08:47a dose of that gal who looked in the river and saw himself who is that
01:08:51narcissism narcissism yes the analysis is a great champion of the world forget those guys who are they
01:08:58good line left hook to the body again terrific left hook to the body
01:09:03lewis has thrown some of his most effective body shots ever in this fight of course he's had a lot of
01:09:08a lot of rounds in which to do it and the guy's tall enough so he can have a long waist stop stop
01:09:15to get under that waist and hit and those shots
01:09:22let him go let him go heavyweight title defenses has only gone 12 rounds once that was against tony tucker
01:09:3993 yeah he is tired let's keep it straight once i want to put their hand behind your neck like that
01:09:45it takes a lot out of it maverick himself has only been in the 12th round one time
01:09:54so if in fact this round completes and a minute and a half from now both fighters will be going to
01:10:01the 12th round for only the second time in their careers proud applause as they get a little action
01:10:06in the last 30 seconds of round 11 maverick just doesn't have much left and lewis is treating him with total
01:10:13disrespect but lennox doesn't have much left himself i mean he's almost rubbery
01:10:20after what he's been trying to do all night step back and throw that right hand
01:10:27so it's mondo exhausto for lennox lewis as he stares at the possibility of three more frustrating
01:10:40minutes with selco maverick
01:10:44thank you no you didn't see the side of that okay you're looking great the right hand leaves
01:10:48this is he's tired he can't see him take him on out of here this round okay
01:10:52you got him doing he's finished now
01:11:05you gotta work non-stop all the time okay come on in close
01:11:12the challenger must have a pretty good chin we have one for a 215-pound guy against
01:11:18a big big heavyweight to take this kind of stuff
01:11:21that's about your body weight when we're going to keep going
01:11:28keep it short and quick just sit down
01:11:33i don't know if it's his girlfriend yelena balabonich looking for the moment as though
01:11:36she doesn't really enjoy boxing all that much
01:11:42final round this heavyweight title fight come on come on first ever in the state of connecticut
01:11:47first in new england since ali listened to
01:11:52lewis is having some problems with his right eye also here so
01:11:57i didn't see them work this well on it this guy
01:12:02you gotta go broke you gotta go broke if you're the challenger now you just can't sit back and wait
01:12:07to just jump on and forget about it well you heard darkie smith asking his fighter for non-stop
01:12:12action in the 12th and within the limits of his exhaustion maverick is probably trying to give it to
01:12:17him
01:12:20just you just can't hold back anything this is your chance to be champion of the world
01:12:24you can't decide i was waiting i was pulling out i was posting and stewart told lewis that he
01:12:29could knock him out with right hand leads so he tried one right there glancing blow
01:12:35this guy has really frightened lewis by taking all those super hard right hands
01:12:39that is a frightening thing load up and hit this guy and comes right back in the track
01:12:47lewis not frightened enough to hold his hands anywhere below his or above his waist
01:12:53i think maybe he doesn't know how to even you got whole training camp is dropping your hand
01:12:59pick them up every now and then you're trying to let you get away
01:13:01it is exhausting to hold your hands up around your face for 12 rounds especially about 250 that's right
01:13:14and you got
01:13:18lennox kind of jumping with the right hand lead there
01:13:20he's making lennox lewis fight lennox would be perfectly content to dance the rest of the round
01:13:32the other guy makes him fight but he only throws one good right hand at a time
01:13:37lewis switching to a southpaw stance how about that
01:13:41take over jim kill him make some history moments
01:13:49i want to be captured with jim's way oh thank you so much george but there's not much drama here
01:13:54as we come down the stretch of of what has been for the second consecutive week break a case of a
01:14:01heavyweight champion struggling harder than we might have expected to put away a relatively nameless
01:14:07opponent it happened in atlanta last saturday night it happens here tonight there's virtually no
01:14:13chance that lewis could lose the fight at this point but most of his fans and supporters came here
01:14:20not expecting to have to sweat out a 12-round decision against a vegetarian from croatia
01:14:27who's never been heard of on this side of the planet i think you sneak a steak in somewhere there
01:14:33maybe one yeah he's putting the meter in the close of the plan
01:14:42they go the distance
01:14:51seems to me that lennox lewis was more prepared for a sprint than a long distance race
01:14:58might have been a little complacent about this fight as evander holyfield might have been a week
01:15:06ago okay well their attentions it seems to me are necessarily focused on each other day by day week
01:15:13by week month by month how easy is it to go in and try to fight your best fight when you're thinking
01:15:17more about amander holyfield when you go to sleep at night then zelko maverick each fighter was planned for
01:15:23a knockout tonight neither one tried to pile up a lot of points the points just came coincidentally
01:15:29no doubt the champ did the best this is what i'm concerned
01:15:43the croatian took a tremendous amount of punishment
01:15:46unorthodox awkward defensive-minded for the most part got through the fight
01:15:56no chance to win and didn't took that right cross took that left hook stood up through 12 rounds
01:16:04looks a little the worst for wear for it but just as emmanuel stewart suggested would be the case
01:16:10maverick's athletic qualities and his style of fighting pose problems for lewis that frustrate
01:16:18the champion and lead to what we expect will be a 12 round decision rather than the knockout let's see
01:16:25how harold letterman scored the full 12 rounds jim i got it mercifully 10 rounds to two 118 what's in
01:16:33lennox lewis i mean you know you got a punch to win and zelko maverick didn't punch he was lighter
01:16:38quicker faster he jumped on top of lennox lewis but he just didn't pull the trigger lennox landed the
01:16:43big shots lennox was the busier guy i hated to see the heavyweight champion with his eyes all swollen
01:16:48like that blood coming out of his mouth but even still maverick didn't land a heck of a lot of good
01:16:53shots jim it certainly lennox deserves this good point harold george if you're going to pull off the
01:16:59michael spinks versus larry holmes act which was in effect what maverick was attempting here tonight
01:17:04you better throw 70 80 punches per round it was all one two all night it was number one two three
01:17:09four five one two three four everything done in twos and you just don't get the judges like that maverick
01:17:16averaged only 25 punches per round and we're ready for the final decision right now let's go up to michael
01:17:23buffer ladies and gentlemen here at the mohegan sun casino we go to the budweiser scorecards
01:17:31tommy kaczmarek has it 119 to 109 bob logis scores it 117 to 112 and francisco chamale scores it 117 to 111
01:17:43for the winner by unanimous decision and still wbc heavyweight champion of the world
01:17:52let's
01:17:53very interesting the belgian judge gave the first from croatia well he gave maverick two of
01:18:06the first three rounds of the fight the other one even so early on the belgian judge had maverick
01:18:11ahead in the fight and indeed kim and ali the other the italian judge scored two of the first three rounds
01:18:18for maverick so all three judges had lennox winning virtually every round down the stretch
01:18:29final punch that numbers show lewis landing 84 more punches throwing 209 more punches
01:18:39and landing at about the same connect percentage as maverick the 44 connect percentage for maverick
01:18:4445 for jabs showing once again one of the kinks in lewis's armor he's easier to hit than his trainers
01:18:51and handlers would like for him to do yeah he needs to put integrate into his repertoire some landing of
01:18:57punches and without power it's a little better everything is probably maybe a little head movement
01:19:03maybe standing taller in the ring there are any number of ways you could go let's go to larry merchant
01:19:07with the winner and still champ lennox lewis thank you jim congratulations lennox why was he such a
01:19:15difficult opponent you know yeah you have to remember he's undefeated plus uh i changed wrong i thought he
01:19:21was going to run so i was i was moving around after my aspiring opponents but you know it's a mistake i
01:19:26won't make again it seemed that two-thirds of the way through the fight you were already tired were you
01:19:32complacent for this unknown opponent not really like i said i trained wrong uh i basically went after
01:19:40my opponents in in in training you know it's just something that happens and it's a learning experience
01:19:45well why were you huffing and puffing so much over the last few rounds well basically i was on my toes
01:19:50he wasn't on his toes i was on my toes you said unequivocally before the fight you wanted to make a
01:19:57statement here you wanted to show the difference between you and evander holyfield are you disappointed
01:20:04that you couldn't make the statement you wanted to make not really i made the statement that i can
01:20:08adjust in the ring uh holyfield made a statement that he can adjust in the ring some opponents give
01:20:14you a hard time in there you know when you're number one in the world they train very hard and they
01:20:19dedicate a lot you know i'm sure that guy von bean trained hard for evander holyfield
01:20:23do you know of any forward developments in negotiations to fight evander holyfield well
01:20:33holyfield said i'm a wanted man so he knows where to find me is it about time you two guys
01:20:40fought before you lose total interest against other opponents and one of you gets knocked off yeah you
01:20:47know i totally agree with that it's up to holyfield to sign the contract so everybody that sees holyfield
01:20:52tell him to get the fight together and not market and stop marking the bell thank you very much
01:20:58respect jen all right those are the words of lennox lewis after this victory one specter that
01:21:06now faces boxing fans as they wait and wait and wait for the anticipated confrontation between these
01:21:12two fighters based on what we saw last week and again tonight you have to wonder are lewis and holyfield
01:21:17still at their peaks or are they somehow coming downhill as they reach middle age of course george
01:21:22they're only in their middle 30s how could they possibly be going down maybe they should take 10
01:21:27years off to recharge their engines i don't know but they're equally good and uh any one fighter can
01:21:32win on a given night and now we see they are equally it would be a match no one would have an edge
01:21:37i would give it to lennox lewis because of the left jab and uh someone's gonna have to make him be a
01:21:41little more focused for holyfield but you know i only watch hbo anyway i know you only watch hbo
01:21:47you only appear on hbo and that's good for me and good for all of us we'll see you next week okay all
01:21:52right thank you thank you very much now we turn back to larry merchant and larry uh just as evander
01:21:57holyfield was seen by many to have fought down to the level of his opposition a week ago then
01:22:01a lot of critics are likely to suggest that lennox lewis fought down to the level of his opposition
01:22:06tonight lewis holyfield is a fight that should be made the longer you wait for such fights and
01:22:14it's the only big heavyweight fight out there the more chance that something's going to happen
01:22:20to make it not happen now some people i won't mention any names might not want to see it happen
01:22:27but if evander holyfield wants to make it happen he should push aside
01:22:31akawande's mandatory he make this fight as soon as possible or we might never see it
01:22:40all right uh we've got a lot of boxing coming up here in october let's take a quick look
01:22:46let's take a quick look at the matches which we're going to be seeing here in october
01:22:52including janara hernandez against floyd mayweather next saturday night and the replay
01:22:57of oscar de la hoya's victory over julio cesar chavez in a much more entertaining bout than most
01:23:02of us expected and then of course our next look at david reed larry on october 24. david reed has
01:23:08been better than anybody could have anticipated even after he won a gold medal at the olympics
01:23:15big puncher you don't have many big punches around he's a natural shocking puncher and on october 31
01:23:23halloween night prince nasim hamed returns against wayne mccullough of ireland on the undercard of
01:23:28that we'll get to see buyani bungu the south african 122 pound champion who's a fighter who hasn't
01:23:34appeared here on hbo before and has terrific credentials well bungo beat kennedy mckinnity twice
01:23:39which is pretty good he's held that 122 pound title longer than any other fighter this will be his debut in
01:23:45america i'm looking forward to seeing him and i'm looking forward to a final word about boxing in just a
01:23:50few moments but now let's look ahead to some other upcoming programs on hbo next saturday on hbo
01:23:58george clooney and nicole kidman are on the trail of terrorists there are nuclear arms and heading
01:24:03for iran and time is running out to keep the peace take the shot then rising star floyd mayweather shoots
01:24:10for hernandez's belt and chavez hooked up with de la hoya for an all-out war next saturday on hbo
01:24:16it's the premiere of the peacemaker at eight followed by a world championship boxing double
01:24:20header at 10 15 next saturday on hbo
01:24:24in a war between countrymen they call me muslim they call you serb
01:24:33we're yugoslav it's different now friendship is the first casualty
01:24:41killing women and children this is war hbo presents an original movie we were friends
01:24:47can we learn anything together shot through the heart premieres sunday october 4th on hbo
01:24:56coming december 8 hbo sports presents the next edition of sports of the 20th century sugar ray
01:25:01robinson bright lights and dark shadows of a champion a documentary that traces the triumphs and
01:25:06tragedies of the boxer most experts called the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time
01:25:10winner of six world titles and 175 bouts outside the ring robinson was a fearless and flashy showman
01:25:17whose final days were marked by sickness and poverty sugar ray robinson the bright lights and dark
01:25:22shadows of a champion coming december 8th in the meantime turn to hbo for the show the pros watch
01:25:27inside the nfl as host len dawson nick bonicotti chris collinsworth and jerry glandle take a complete
01:25:33look back and the first look ahead at all the action throughout the nfl it premieres thursdays
01:25:37at 11 p.m eastern and pacific time tonight here on hbo you watched live as lennox lewis retained his
01:25:45version of the heavyweight championship with the unanimous decision over unlikely and relatively
01:25:50unknown challenger shelko mavrovic of croatia lewis connecting at will with uppercuts and some left
01:25:56hooks throughout the fight but unable to put away his vegetarian opponent coming up immediately following
01:26:02tonight's coverage of world championship boxing stay tuned for our lips and now for larry merchant george
01:26:09foreman and harold letterman i'm jim lafly saying so long from the mohegan sun casino in uncasville
01:26:15connecticut the executive producer of hbo sports is ross greenberg tonight's telecast of world
01:26:21championship boxing was produced by rick bernstein and directed by mark payton the feature producers
01:26:26thomas erdeltelt eric poland and max siegel associate producers kirby bradley and john chrystal
01:26:32assistant to the producer matt boland production manager was john mckelly and the technical supervisor
01:26:38was bob hunter
01:28:08And Gabrielle Ruelas clash head-on.
01:28:10A victory paved the way for a showdown with Sugar Shane Mosley.
01:28:14Live Saturday, October 24th.
01:28:16HBO Boxing After Dark.
01:28:19Some of the best in the business work the night shift.
01:28:23Next on HBO.
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