Lennox Lewis spoke of his love for the 'sweet science' as his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Former heavyweight champ inducted into Hall of Fame
Lennox Lewis spoke of his love for the 'sweet science' of boxing, after being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in New York.
Three-time world heavyweight champion Lewis was inducted along with American bantamweight champion Orlando Canizales and South African junior lightweight Brian Mitchell.
43-year-old Britain Lewis was inducted in the first year of his eligibility, after retiring in 2003 with a career record of 41-2-1, including 32 knockouts.
"Our sport is usually looked at as a brutal, savage sport," Lennox said at the hall's 20th annual induction ceremony.
"I see it as a sweet science, a magical dance. For me, I just wanted to live up to that, and keep the dignity and the humanistic aspect and the positiveness of it, so that people will remember that's what I did for boxing."
Lewis beat Riddick Bowe to win Olympic gold for Canada back in 1988, and turned pro a year later and won the European, British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.
Title
The vacant WBC title came his way after a stunning second-round knockout of Donovan "Razor" Ruddock in 1992, the first of three times he claimed the world heavyweight crown.
Lewis suffered a shock defeat against Oliver McCall, but reclaimed his crown and avenged that loss in 1997, and he repeated the dose when knocking out Hasim Rahman in 2001 after he had handed out Lewis second career defeat.
Lewis was only to be beaten twice in his career though, while he also joined Rocky Marciano and Gene Tunney as the only heavyweights to retire with no unavenged defeats on their record.
A controversial draw with Evander Holyfield in March 1999 was then the highest-grossing fight at Madison Square Garden, and he then defeated Holyfield eight months later to unify the division and become the undisputed heavyweight king.
Lewis ended his career by destroying Mike Tyson in eight rounds in Memphis, before beating Vitali Klitschko when the Ukrainian had to be pulled out of the fight on cuts.
Although Klitschko wanted a rematch, Lewis was happy to retire with his legacy intact, and he has now been recognised as one of the greats in boxing history.
