Lennox Lewis vs.

Željko Mavrović Željko Mavrović (; ; born 17 February 1969) is a Croatian former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 1998. In 1998, as an undefeated challenger, he faced Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight title, but lost in what would be his fin ...

, billed as "Battle of the Giants", was a professional boxing match contested on September 26, 1998 for the WBC and '' Lineal'' Heavyweight Championships.

Background

Since recapturing the WBC Heavyweight title in 1997, Lennox Lewis had made three successful defenses. After picking up a disqualification victory over

Henry Akinwande Henry Adetokunboh Akinwande (born 12 October 1965) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2008. He held the WBO heavyweight title from 1996 to 1997, as well as the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 1993, and the Euro ...

due to Akinwande's excessive holding, Lewis impressively defeated his next two opponents, needing only 95 seconds to defeat

Andrew Golota Andrzej Jan Gołota (; born 5 January 1968), best known as Andrew Golota, is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title (by all four major sanctioning bodies), and as ...

by first round knockout, and then, after a slow start, rebounded to defeat

Shannon Briggs Shannon Briggs (born December 4, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion, having held the lineal heavyweight championship from 1997 to 1998, and the WBO title from 2006 to 2007. Briggs is known for h ...

, knocking him down three times en route to a victory by fifth round technical knockout which added the ''Lineal'' Heavyweight title to Lewis' resume. Though Lewis had hoped for a unification match with WBA and

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, Holyfield still had to make a mandatory defense of his titles against Henry Akinwande, who then pulled out of the fight due to illness and was replaced by

Vaughn Bean Vaughn Bean (born September 3, 1974) is an American former professional boxer. Nicknamed "Shake & Bake", Bean challenged twice for world heavyweight titles in 1997 and 1998. Professional career Bean began his career with 27 victories over extre ...

. As a result, Lewis instead agreed to match with the WBC's number one contender, the undefeated Croatian fighter Željko Mavrović. Despite Mavrović's impressive record, Lewis' trainer

Emmanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his care ...

was critical of the fighter, stating "He has one of the least impressive records I've seen, there's no important names on it."

The fight

Though Lewis was able to control most of the fight, he was unable to score a knockdown over Mavrović. Lewis was able to land several power punches through the fight, but the punches had seemingly little effect on Mavrović who stood his ground and let Lewis tire himself out by throwing a large amount of punches. However, Mavrović did not generate nearly as much offense as Lewis did, throwing 298 punches, over 200 fewer than Lewis' 507 punches thrown. Ultimately, Lewis was able to pick up the victory by unanimous decision with lopsided scores of 119–109, 117–112, and 117–111. HBO's

Harold Lederman Harold Lederman (January 26, 1940 – May 11, 2019) was an American boxing judge and analyst. He began his career as a boxing judge in 1967 and joined the cast of ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' in 1986, and was there until HBO dropped boxing ...

had the bout scored 118-110 for Lewis, while the AP scored it 117-111.

Aftermath

Lewis' victory over Mavrović coupled with Holyfield's win over Vaughn Bean a week before lead to speculation that the long awaited unification bout between the two would be next. A month after their respective victories, a deal was in place that would see the fight happen early in 1999, but Lewis was reluctant to sign the contract and it was not until November 24 that the match was officially agreed to.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Mavrovic 1998 in boxing 1998 in sports in Connecticut September 1998 sports events in the United States Boxing matches in Connecticut Sports competitions in Uncasville, Connecticut Mavrović World Boxing Council heavyweight championship matches Boxing on HBO Boxing on Sky Sports