08/21/2026
THE LAST FIGHT OF THE LION.
Lennox Lewis entered the ring at Staples Center on June 21, 2003, as the reigning IBO, WBC and Ring Magazine Heavyweight Champion.
He would never fight again.
Across from him stood Vitali Klitschko, a 6-foot-7 challenger who had come to take everything from the champion.
What followed was six rounds of absolute heavyweight warfare.
Klitschko hurt Lewis early. Lewis answered with a devastating right hand that opened a deep cut above Klitschko’s left eye. Blood poured. Both men traded enormous shots. Neither gave an inch.
Then, before the seventh round, the doctor stopped the fight.
Lewis had won by sixth-round TKO.
But there was a remarkable twist: Klitschko was ahead 58-56 on all three judges’ scorecards when the fight was stopped.
There would be no rematch.
Lewis retired after the fight, ending one of the greatest heavyweight careers in boxing history.
And he walked away as the reigning IBO World Heavyweight Champion.
