Lewis on dangerous ground
Champion's lack of preparation could be his undoing, says John Rawling in South Africa
Wednesday April 18, 2001
The Guardian
The barriers have been put up and the curtains drawn. Lennox Lewis will burn the midnight oil in his final ring workout, training strictly behind closed doors before Sunday's world heavyweight title fight in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Some may compare his boxing ability with the best of all time, but his critics here say his PR is distinctly second rate. Nevertheless, although local writers and television reporters may chunter and chatter about Lewis's arrogance, from here on the champion is being made to concentrate solely on Hasim Rahman, a relatively unsung American heavyweight from Baltimore, who has at least dignified the contest by preparing meticulously for the biggest fight of his life.
A gaudy gambling complex, Carnival City, in truth little more than a cheapskate version of the better-known Sun City, will play host to the fight. Lying 20 miles outside Johannesburg, visitors' senses are assaulted by the sight of a multi-coloured range of buildings, the centrepiece a fake circus big top. Apparently, the punters like it.
The fight takes place in a 5,500-seat arena which was quickly sold out at prices which automatically precluded the attendance of the poorer, predominantly black, sections of the population. The event is further restricted to the South African elite by being available only on pay-per-view television some time after 5am on Sunday morning.
Lewis's preparations, despite public protestations to the contrary, have been less thorough than normal and he is reported to have said that if he does not knock out Rahman in the first five rounds, he may as well retire.
His manager Frank Maloney will not say as much but he has looked a distinctly worried man of late. Perhaps his years in the fight business tell him to take nothing for granted, and maybe he still remembers too vividly the bitter taste of the tears he shed at Wembley in September 1994 when another unfancied underdog, Oliver McCall, famously sent Lewis to an unlikely defeat.
He knows Lewis should win handsomely, but Maloney seems keen to instil a proper fighting attitude in his man, albeit belatedly. Interview requests, other than those stipulated in broadcast contracts, are being refused and it was Maloney who wanted the set-piece press conference, bizarrely called yesterday before most correspondents had even arrived, to be cut short when questions threatened to stray into territory where the champion could be laid open to criticism.
"Will you freeze in front of Lewis?" A South African writer asked Rahman. "After all, Michael Grant and Andrew Golota did. What will happen when the bell sounds for the first round, will you crumble?"
Rahman's reaction will have been noted by Maloney. The challenger, unlike Grant who hyperventilated at a similar press conference when confronted by Lewis and the world's media, buried his head in his hands and laughed, genuinely. This was not the reaction of a frightened man.
"Grant and Golota, they froze. They were afraid. They might be bigger than me, but you can't see the size of my heart. There's no fear here, baby," answered the smiling Rahman.
Lewis was uninspiring to those in search of an insight into his fight plan. It seems apparent he believes that this will be one of the easier pay cheques of his career as he defends his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation belts and that Rahman does not have the class to provide a genuine test for him.
Perhaps the whisper that Lewis and his camp did not even realise that Johannesburg is at altitude when the fight deal was reached, is too fanciful an accusation of incompetence to be taken seriously. But training near Las Vegas, and arriving late to accommodate filming for a Hollywood movie is at the very least, surprising.
"I can't wait, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a great fight. Being here means a great deal to me. It's something I always wanted to do. My hero Muhammad Ali did the same thing. I wanted to follow in his footsteps," said Lewis in standard form from behind the dark glasses he habitually wears for such occasions.
But there was a lack of sparkle in his words. At 35, he has been there, done that so many times before and the conclusion tends to be that Lewis sees this as just another hugely well-paid eight million dollar day at the office. It is an attitude Maloney is keen to erase.
"We are not talking about Tyson, this is about Rahman," said Maloney as Lewis was asked the inevitable questions about the superfight which still seems no closer to fruition. But little of note was said. No talk of tactics, no analysis of Rahman's strength, just a certainty that he would win. Lennox "The Lion" Lewis is about to produce "Thunder in Africa" according to the fight posters, and there seems to be a genuine feeling among the South African people that Lewis is doing the country a huge favour by bringing a heavyweight title fight to South Africa for the first time since the white heavyweight Gerrie Coetzee beat Greg Page in 1984.
Nelson Mandela will not be there, but we are told he will grant the boxers an audience on Monday when Lewis boasts he will show the former president all his belts. Rahman is nothing if not quick-witted and likeable, and he told reporters Lewis's words were irrelevant as the beaten champion is always allowed to keep his belt. "I'll have my own as well," he said.
People close to the Lewis camp have privately spoken of their disbelief at some aspects of his preparations. They suggest this is a contest Rahman should not have the ability to win, and that Lewis's power should prevail. But they also say this is one that Lewis is perfectly capable of losing and, when he says he will win inside five rounds, it is because he knows that he has to make this a brief foray to avoid the possibility of a huge upset. He has been warned. |
