Lewis Willing To Defend Title

For Lennox Lewis, it doesn't get any better than being the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

He earned that distinction Saturday night with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield, eight months after he thought he had beaten him but had to settle for a highly controversial draw.

Lewis, however, left the ring with only the WBC and WBA championship belts. The IBF withheld its belt because of a sanctioning fee dispute.

Whatever the outcome, Holyfield put things in perspective.

"It's not so much what I think, it's what reality is," he said. "And what reality is, is he's the heavyweight champion of the world."

Panos Eliades, the main promoter of the champion from Britain, said Lewis might turn his back on the beleaguered IBF.

"Lennox Lewis is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and when we go home we'll decide what to do with the IBF belt," Eliades said. "The way the IBF acted tonight was disgraceful."

IBF president Bob Lee told The Associated Press by telephone on Sunday that Lewis would get the belt if a $300,000 sanctioning fee is paid to the IBF by Friday.

Pat English, a lawyer for Main Events, Lewis' American promoter, said he met with IBF lawyer Walter Stone the afternoon of the fight and they had reached an agreement and a $300,000 was check cut.

However, English said that just before the start of the fight, Stone told him he received a call from "somebody on high," and he could not accept the check.

Lee said Lewis' camp "tried to get in the money into an escrow account" and English "cut a check to his own escrow account." After he conferred with Stone, Lee said, he told Stone not to accept the agreement.

Asked why he thought an attempt was made to put the money into escrow, Lee said, "Maybe because of the indictment."

Lee has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of soliciting and accepting bribes to fix ranking and was to arraigned Monday in Newark, N.J.

While the IBF will accept $300,000, Lee said the actual sanctioning fee was $450,000, 3 percent of Lewis' $15 million purse.

While the decision was unanimous, Lewis was not as dominant as he had been in the first fight March 13 at Madison Square Garden.

"It was little tougher than the first fight," Lewis said. "I was thinking I've got to go home with all the belts. I went through some trials and tribulations. A lot of Americans didn't want me to take the belts across the Atlantic. I actually persevered and succeeded."

Holyfield threatened to take control in the seventh round, his best and also the best round of the fight. Lewis, however, shooting left jabs and right uppercuts, wouldn't let him.

Holyfield shook the 34-year-old Lewis a couple of times in the round and trailed only 67-66 on each of the three official cards with five rounds remaining. But the cautius Lewis won all five of the rounds on one card, four of five on another and three of five on the third.

"I hit him good a couple of times," said Holyfield, who turns 37 on Friday. "He was able to come back after I hit him with a couple of shots. The big thing in life is you give your all."

In the first fight, Holyfield complained that his performance was affected by leg cramps. There were no excuses this time.

Holyfield was quicker Saturday night, but when he got inside, the taller Lewis was able to wrap him up most of the time.

The scoring by the judges was Chuck Giampa 116-112, Bill Graham 117-111 and Jerry Roth 115-113. The AP scored it for Lewis, 116-113.

Lewis was credited with landing 195 of 490 punches in the Thomas & Mack Center compared with 348 of 613 in the first fight. Holyfield's figures were 137 of 416 Saturday night compared with 134 of 385 in the first fight.

Neither man was ever close to going down, but Lewis was cut over the right eye by a head butt in the fifth round.

"I was jabbing (in the early rounds) because he was coming in with his head," Lewis said.

"I'm willing to take on all comers," Lewis said. "I'm the undisputed champion of the world and a lot of people are going to be calling up."

Holyfield's boxing future is uncertain, but there could be a lucrative third match with Mike Tyson.

A delayed broadcast of the fight will be shown by HBO on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. EST. It will be part of a live broadcast of a heavyweight bout between Michael Grant and Andrew Golota in Atlantic City, N.J.

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