Lennox Claudius Lewis was born on September 2, 1965 in West Ham, London, England. A former
Heavyweight boxer and Undisputed World Champion, he won 41 of his 44 career bouts, and also
won a Gold Medal at the 1988 Olympics Games. He is one of only five boxers to have won
the Heavyweight Championship three times. BoxRec currently ranks Lewis as the 35th greatest
pound-for-pound fighter of all time as well as the seventh greatest European fighter of
all time and fourth-greatest British fighter of all time. In 2008, Lewis was inducted into
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and in 2009, in his first year of eligibility, Lewis was
inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Lewis was born to Jamaican parents and according to his mother, he would often fight with other
children growing up. He was given the name Lennox by the doctor, who said he "looked
like a Lennox." He attended Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute
for high school, where he excelled in Canadian football, soccer and basketball. In the 1982–83
school year, he helped the school's AAA basketball team win the Ontario provincial championship.
To talk about Lewis’s personal life, it can be said that he is married to Violet Chang,
a former Miss Jamaica runner-up, in 2005. They have 4 children: Leviah, Landon, Ling
and Leya Lewis. The family resides in Miami Beach.
Before making a name for himself as a pro, Lewis earned gold for Canada at the 1988 Olympic
Games, as he defeated future heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe in the final. It was in 1989
that Lennox Lewis turned professional. In his first three years as a professional, Lewis
won several regional heavyweight championships, including the European, British, and Commonwealth
title. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches tall and having an incredible reach of an 84-inch,
he has gone through a long way until he eventually made a name for himself as one of the greatest
heavyweight boxers of all time. First he knocked out Donovan Ruddock, after winning his first
21 fights, to acquire the number one position in the World Boxing Council (WBC) rankings
and then to be declared WBC heavyweight champion in 1993. Even though Lewis lost the title
to Oliver McCall in 1994, he had the chance to win the vacant WBC title in 1997 when he
defeated McCall in a rematch. After defending the title four times, he became the Lineal
Champion after beating Shannon Briggs by KO in 1998. The following year, he obtained the
position of undisputed champion as he chalked up a win over Evander Holyfield in November
1999. Once he beat Mike Tyson by KO in 2002 and stopped Vitali Klitschko in 2003. Lennox
Lewis vacated his remaining titles and retired from boxing in 2004.
Lewis has been ranked among BoxRec's 10 best heavyweights in the world fourteen times,
and was ranked No.1 from 1997 to 2003. BoxRec currently ranks Lewis as the 35th greatest
pound-for-pound fighter of all time, as well as the seventh greatest European fighter of
all time and fourth-greatest British fighter of all time. In 2008, Lewis was inducted into
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and in 2009, in his first year of eligibility, Lewis was
inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
As of January 2021, Lennox Lewis has an estimated net worth of $150 million.
Although Lewis and his family reside in Miami Beach, the former boxer also owns luxurious
mansion in Jamaica. The home which he calls the ‘Lion’s lair’ located in the Tryall
Golf Club resort in Hanover offers stunning views of the Caribbean Sea and Montego Bay,
sell for upwards of $4.8 million.
Lewis became one of only two boxers in history, and the first since Ken Norton in 1978, to
have been awarded the heavyweight championship without actually winning a championship bout
when the WBC awarded him their title in 1992. This was due to Riddick Bowe relinquishing
the title after failing to agree to defend the title against Lewis, who had become the
mandatory challenger by defeating Donovan Ruddock a few weeks earlier.
His combined three reigns tally 3086 days (8 years, 5 months and 13 days), which ranks
as the fourth-longest cumulative time spent as world heavyweight champion.
Lewis appeared on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. He came in fourth place out of 14.
Lewis is an avid amateur chess player, and funded an after-school chess programme for
disadvantaged youths, one of whom earned a university chess scholarship at Tennessee
Tech.