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| Date | November 13, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, US | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA, WBC, IBF, and vacant IBO undisputed heavyweight championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lewis wins via 12-round unanimous decision (115–113, 116–112, 117–111) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis II, billed as Unfinished Business, was a professional boxing match contested on November 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, IBF, and vacant IBO undisputed heavyweight championship. [1]
The two fighters had met eight months prior in Madison Square Garden. Though Lewis had seemingly done enough to win, the bout was declared a draw, with one judge ruling the fight in favor of Lewis 116–113, another scoring the fight in Holyfield's favor with a score of 115–113 and the third declaring the fight even at 115–115. [2] The ruling became one of the most controversial in boxing history, and as such, the three sanctioning bodies quickly ordered a rematch between the two. [3]
A week after this first fight, Holyfield and Lewis agreed to the rematch, with the fight's US$30 million purse being evenly split between them. [4] The match was originally scheduled for September, but was pushed back to November 13, with Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center being announced as the site of the fight. [5] The fight was to occur exactly seven years after Riddick Bowe defeated Holyfield to become the last undisputed heavyweight champion. The men were to fight for the three major belts and the lesser-regarded IBO heavyweight title, which was awarded to Lewis prior to the fight.
Like in the previous fight, Lewis gained an early advantage, winning both rounds 1 and 2. Lewis won round 3 on two of the judges' scorecards, but a late rally from Holyfield during the final 30 seconds in which he landed several punches, including a hard right to the side of Lewis' head, helped him win on the third judge's scorecard. Holyfield then won the next four rounds. In an entertaining round 7, the two fighters fought in the middle of ring during the final 20 seconds, each landing several punches. Lewis seized control of the fight by winning rounds 8 to 11. The men fought a close round 12, but Lewis again took the round on two of the judges' scorecards. Lewis was then named the winner by unanimous decision with scores of 115–113, 116–112 and 117–111, becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion in nearly seven years. [6] HBO's Harold Lederman had the bout scored 116-112 for Lewis and the AP had it 116-113.
Lewis' reign as undisputed heavyweight champion lasted less than six months. The WBA wanted Lewis to defend the championship against their number one contender John Ruiz. However, Lewis wanted to first defend his titles against Michael Grant. The WBA and Lewis agreed that he would fight Grant first followed by Ruiz. Ruiz's promoter Don King challenged the decision in court and a clause was found in Lewis' contract that stated the winner of the Holyfield–Lewis fight would first defend his titles against the WBA's number one contender. Because of this, Lewis was stripped of his WBA title. [7] He proceeded with his match against Grant, successfully defending his remaining titles after defeating Grant by 2nd round knockout. The WBA then created a "Super World Champion" title allowing unified champions more time in between mandatory title defenses.
The WBA chose Holyfield to face Ruiz for the vacant WBA Heavyweight title. Holyfield defeated Ruiz by unanimous decision to regain the title, becoming the first four-time heavyweight champion in boxing history. He lost the title to Ruiz in his next fight and then fought Ruiz a third time, this time to a draw. He met Hasim Rahman to determine who would face Lewis for the heavyweight championship. Though Holyfield won, Lewis opted to face Mike Tyson and Lewis–Holyfield III never materialized.
This would be the last fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship until Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury on May 18, 2024.
Confirmed bouts: [8]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Canada | TSN |
 France | Canal+ |
 Philippines | VTV (IBC) |
 United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
 United States | HBO |
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division from 1989 to 2003. He was a three-time world champion, a two-time lineal champion, and held the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won the super-heavyweight gold medal. Lewis is regarded by many as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and one of the greatest British fighters of all time.
John Ruiz is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a world heavyweight title.
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion in the cruiserweight division in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three-belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Hasim Sharif Rahman is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC title again from 2005 to 2006. He was ranked as a top 10 heavyweight by BoxRec from 2000 to 2007, and reached his highest ranking of world No.6 in 2000.
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson for the WBA heavyweight championship on November 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was Tyson's first defence of the WBA title that he had won from Bruce Seldon on September 7 of that year.
Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, billed as The Battle of the Ages, was a professional boxing match contested on April 19, 1991 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe was a professional boxing match that took place on November 13, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was contested for the undisputed world heavyweight championship, which consisted of the WBA, WBC, and IBF championships.
Riddick Bowe vs. Evander Holyfield II, billed as Repeat or Revenge, was a professional boxing match that took place on November 6, 1993, for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer was a professional boxing match contested on April 22, 1994, for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis, billed as Undisputed, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF undisputed heavyweight championship.
Mike Tyson vs. Donovan Ruddock II, billed as The Rematch, was a professional boxing match contested on June 28, 1991. It was the second time the two fighters fought that year, as their first bout in March was mired in controversy.
Hasim Rahman vs. Lennox Lewis II, billed as Final Judgment, was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal champion Hasim Rahman and former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. The bout took place on November 17, 2001 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada, and served as a rematch of their April 22 bout in which Rahman scored a major upset. In the rematch, Lewis won by knockout.
Evander Holyfield vs. Vaughn Bean, billed as "The Power and the Glory", was a professional boxing match contested on September 19, 1998 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
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John Ruiz vs. Roy Jones Jr., billed as Never Take A Heavyweight Lightly, was a professional boxing match contested on March 1, 2003 for the WBA heavyweight championship. The fight took place at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV in Paradise, Nevada.
Nikolai Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on 20 December 2008 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz, billed as Justice, was a professional boxing match contested on August 12, 2000 for the vacant WBA heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "The Royal Comeback", was a professional boxing match contested on June 1, 2002.
Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk, billed as The Perfect Storm, was a professional boxing match that was contested between WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, and former undisputed cruiserweight champion and the WBO's heavyweight mandatory challenger, Oleksandr Usyk. The bout took place on 25 September 2021 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Usyk winning by unanimous decision.
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua II, billed as Rage on the Red Sea, was a heavyweight professional boxing match between WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, and former heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua. The bout took place on 20 August 2022 at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Usyk won the 12-round bout by split decision, with scores of 116–112 and 115–113 in his favour, and 115–113 in favour of Joshua.