Lewis' easy win does little for the game

NEW YORK, MAY 1. Michael Grant said Lennox Lewis knocked him off his equilibrium when he knocked him down in the first round at Madison Square Garden.

Lewis' ridiculously easy victory over the American on Saturday didn't do much for the equilibrium of boxing either. While Lewis won the fight by slamming home a right uppercut to knock Grant out in the second round after putting down the American twice in the first round and forcing an eight count that may or may not have been counted as another knockdown, the bout pointed to the sorry state of the heavyweight division and boxing. For as the big men go, very often so goes boxing. And the big men are not going very well these days.

Grant simply did not belong anywhere near a heavyweight title fight. That he was the No. 2 contender in both the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Council (WBC) and No. 5 in the World Boxing Association (WBA) speaks volumes about the poor health of the sport. That's not to say that Lewis didn't do his job on Saturday. He quickly took advantage of Grant's amateurishly wild swings to finally put him out of his misery, made off with $10 million and did not get hurt. That makes the night a success for him.

But where do Lewis, the heavyweights and boxing go from here? Lewis says he would like to fight Mike Tyson, but isn't holding his breath. ``I'm sure there's an opportunity out there for me and him. I'm the man at the top and he knows where to find me,'' said Lewis.

Tyson does not appear to be in any hurry to fight again. After several postponements he is now scheduled to fight Lou Savarese on June 24 somewhere in Europe, where he was exiled professionally after his last few fights were marred by ugly incidents that turned off fans and corporate sponsors. Nevertheless, if Tyson just appears to straighten out his life in and out of the ring, he still will be the biggest draw of the sport.

But without a rehabilitated Tyson, or someone else on the horizon who can generate excitement in the sport, there likely will be more of the same one-sided contests like Lewis- Grant to grease the slide of the boxing's popularity.

Emanuel Steward, Lewis' highly-respected trainer said there are no promising heavyweights on the horizon, prompting him to predict that the 34-year-old Lewis (36-1-1) could dominate the division for three to four more years.

They could be three to four boring years. Lewis is simply not exiting in or out of the ring. There was little buzz in the run- up to the fight, and Madison Square Garden was not sold out. Of the 19,000 seats 17,234 were sold, even according to the Garden's figures.

Steward has admitted that his fighter has not impressed American fans and that he needed an impressive performance against Grant to convince them that he is a great fighter.

``I'm very satisfied. Lennox did what I knew he could do,'' Steward said after Saturday's fight. ``Lennox Lewis was definitely aggressive enough for me tonight and in a smart way, and I'm real happy.''

Steward may be, but fans of exciting competitive fights found little to be happy about on Saturday. And they may find little to get enthused about with Lewis' next fight.

Shortly after Saturday's execution of Grant, Lewis' handlers said the Briton will put his IBF and WBC titles he retained against Grant up against South African Frans Botha in England in July. While certainly better schooled than Grant - who isn't? - the slow-footed, ponderously punching Botha is not likely to have a much different fate than Grant had in Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

After demolishing the 27-year-old Grant (now 31-1), who was paid about $4 million for showing up, Lewis insisted that, ``I'm out there to prove I'm the best fighter on the planet and I'm not going to duck anyone.'' But on Saturday, through no fault of his own, he proved nothing. And while Lewis wasn't exactly ducking other fighters he did seem to be bobbing and weaving around the subject of fighting David Tua, the hard-jawed, hard-punching fireplug from New Zealand, who is the IBF's No. 1 contender.

Lewis said he thought Tua of New Zealand, deserved a title shot before John Ruiz, the WBA's top contender. But the 6-5 (1.95m) Lewis quickly added that he thought the 5-10 (1.8m) Tua was ``too short for me.'' Lewis did not add that Tua, unlike Grant, is also a well-schooled fighter who punches very hard.

Ruiz is set to fight Evander Holyfield in June for the vacant WBA title in June.

Lewis lost that crown on a U.S. Federal court ruling that said Lewis was obligated to fight Ruiz under an agreement the Briton had signed to fight the WBA's No. 1 contender.

If Lewis' appeal of the decision fails as is likely, he probably will have to fight the winner of Holyfield-Ruiz to get back his WBA title. The possibility of that fight does not seem to excite many people.

``Every time I step into the ring,'' said Lewis after knocking out Grant, ``I just have to improve upon myself.'' An abysmal Grant didn't give Lewis a chance to improve on anything other than to prove he can hit a heavy bag disguised as a boxer.

The question is how will boxing improve itself?

- Reuters

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