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| Date | April 29, 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, US | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBC, IBF, and IBO heavyweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lewis wins via 2nd-round KO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lennox Lewis vs. Michael Grant , billed as Two Big, was a professional boxing match contested on April 29, 2000 for the WBC, IBF, and IBO heavyweight championships. [1]
In his previous fight, Lennox Lewis had finally captured the undisputed heavyweight championship, unifying the three major heavyweight titles (and retaining the lightly regarded IBO belt) after defeating Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision. The contract Lewis signed prior to his fight with Holyfield stated that Lewis' first defense of his newly won championship would have to come against the WBA's number one contender, who at the time was Lewis' previous adversary Henry Akinwande but because of illness was later changed to John Ruiz. However, Lewis refused to face Ruiz and instead agreed to match with undefeated prospect Michael Grant. [2] Initially, the WBA voted in favor of Lewis keeping his WBA title on the condition that he face Ruiz as soon as possible should he defeat Grant, but a federal judge (influenced by promoter Don King, who promoted Ruiz) overturned the decision and ordered that Lewis be stripped of his WBA championship. [3] [4]
On the undercard highly regarded contender Wladimir Klitschko stopped David Bostice in the 2nd round.
Grant started the fight aggressively, but things quickly went downhill for the challenger. Just past the midway point of the first round, Lewis was able to land a strong right hand to the top of Grant's head that sent Grant down. Grant was able to get back up at the count of eight, but was clearly hurt from the blow and quickly found himself in more trouble as Lewis continued his aggressive assault. As the second minute came to an end, Lewis landed three consecutive punches to the lower head and neck, and sent Grant staggering into the corner where the ropes prevented him falling to ground, though referee Arthur Mercante Jr. still counted it as the knockdown. With Grant now on wobbly legs, Lewis continued to land power punches and with 13 seconds left in the round hit Grant with a left–right combination that sent Grant to the canvas for the third time in the round. Though Lewis had seemingly done enough to score the knockout victory, Grant just managed to get back up as the round ended. Lewis started the second round aggressively in an attempt to quickly obtain the knockout victory over the exhausted Grant, but after being unable to do so in the first minute of the round, took a more conservative approach. With 23 seconds left in the round, Lewis was finally able to end the fight after landing a right uppercut. Grant attempted to get back up, but failed to make the referee's count, giving Lewis the knockout victory at 2:53 of the second round. [5]
Lewis agreed to make his next defense against Francois Botha in his native London, making it his first championship fight in Britain since being defeated by Oliver McCall in 1994. [6]
Confirmed bouts: [7]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
 United States | HBO |
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight 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 a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division.
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 at cruiserweight 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 WBA, WBC, and 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.
Francois "Frans" Botha is a South African former professional boxer and kickboxer. He competed in boxing from 1990 to 2014, and is perhaps best known for winning the IBF heavyweight title against Axel Schulz in 1995, but was later stripped after failing a drug test. He later challenged twice for world heavyweight titles in 2000 and 2002. Botha has competed against former Heavyweight Champions Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Michael Moorer and Evander Holyfield late in their respective careers. Botha competed once in mixed martial arts in 2004.
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Buster Douglas vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as The Moment of Truth, was a professional boxing match contested on October 25, 1990, for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships. The bout took place at the Mirage in Paradise, Nevada, USA and saw Douglas making the first defense of the titles he won from Mike Tyson in February 1990.
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Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II, billed as Return to Glory, was a professional boxing match contested November 8, 1997 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.
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.
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Lennox Lewis vs. Francois Botha, billed as The Homecoming, was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between WBC, IBF, and IBO champion Lennox Lewis and the WBC's #9 ranked contender Francois Botha. The bout took place on 15 July 2000 at the London Arena in England. Lewis defeated Botha via second-round technical knockout to retain his heavyweight titles.
Lennox Lewis vs. David Tua, billed as Royal Rampage, was a professional boxing match contested on November 11, 2000 for the WBC, IBF, and IBO heavyweight championships.
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.
Chris Byrd vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 14, 2002 for the vacant IBF 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.