Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson: How Did Tyson’s Volatility Lead to a Distinctive Weigh-In Twist?
- admin
- 0
The long-awaited heavyweight super fight was initially set to take place in Las Vegas, but had to be moved after ‘Iron Mike’ provoked an infamous brawl at their first press conference.
When Lewis took his place on his small podium on stage, Tyson stepped off his pedestal, walked across to him and started throwing punches.
By the end of the brawl, several security members had minor injuries and Lewis had his leg bitten by Tyson, who lost his licence to box in Nevada as a result.
The fight was therefore relocated to Memphis, Tennessee and the pair were not allowed anywhere near each other until the first bell rang.
This meant the weigh-in had a unique twist.
While normally the two main event combatants would weigh in together and do a final face-off, this was not the case for Tyson and Lewis.
They instead hit the scales three hours apart in separate weigh-ins.
ESPN commentators at the weigh-in event said: “So far the volatile and unpredictable Tyson hasn’t done anything to jeopardise Saturday’s bout.
“The two fighters weigh in three hours apart.”
Lewis did his weigh-in first, coming in at 249¼lbs.
Tyson took to the scales a while later and was 234½lbs
In his interview, Tyson roared: “I’m from Brownsville, Brooklyn, I’m not afraid of nobody, in the ring or out of the ring, if they’ve got a gun or a knife. And I’ll show him that, too.
“I’m just ready to get it on, I’ll crush this guy’s skull.
“I’ll show who the real world champion is, the best fighter in the era.”
When asked if he was concerned about potential fouls from Tyson, Lewis said: “Well I’m no punk in the ring, so I’ll definitely respond the same way.
“Hopefully we have a good ref in there who’ll keep everything in hand.”
When all was said and done, the fight went ahead as planned and Lewis won with a clean KO in round eight.