I'm no Mickey Mouse - Lewis
2003-06-11 11:07
New York - Britain's heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis said on Tuesday that Vitali Klitschko, his opponent for the WBC title on June 21, would find him in a different league to the Mickey Mouse rivals the Ukrainian had fought before.
The 37-year-old Lewis (40-2-1, 31 knockouts) has not fought since successfully defending his WBC-IBF belt when he knocked out former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in the eighth round in Memphis, Tennessee on June 8, last year.
However he declared himself in shape and ready to fight 31-year-old Klitschko despite him being a late replacement after the withdrawal of original opponent Kirk Johnson because of an injured chest muscle.
He said the fight had extra spice because Klitschko, the official number one contender for the WBC belt, had caused him a lot of headaches with threats of lawsuits if he did not fight him.
"I'm tried and tested. I'm no Mickey Mouse," said Lewis.
He predicted that after his fight with Klitschko (32-1, 31 knockouts) he would still be undisputed world heavyweight champion.
"There is no big guy as big as me who is as good as me."
"I can adjust (to Klitschko's superior height) and adapt to whatever he is bringing.
'Be careful what you wish for'
"He has been waiting for this fight, now here it is and he's going to get it... he will have a bit more than he can chew... as they say be careful what you wish for and he's wished for this."
Lewis' manager Emanuel Steward said the bout with Klitschko would be more exciting and a more physical fight than Johnson.
"You will have an explosive fight by two big fighters," he said.
Steward said that the 2.04m Klitschko, of the Ukraine, was eight centimetres taller than Lewis, who would now have to make tactical adjustments and punch upward because of Klitschko's height.
But he said this was not a concern.
"Lennox is ready," he said.
Steward said Lewis had two sparring sessions left before facing Klitschko, but this would be enough.
He said: "We'll go with what we've got."
He described Klitschko as a technical fight with a good jab and overhand right.
"He's a very good European fighter," said Steward.
Lewis did not want to look beyond Klitschko but admitted that a fight for the heavyweight title against Roy Jones was a possibility sometime next year.
The decision to go ahead with the rearranged bout kept intact the long awaited plans for Los Angeles to host its first world heavyweight title fight since August 8, 1958 when Floyd Patterson defended his crown for the third time with a 13th-round TKO over Roy Harris.
- AFX