Lewis came into the fight as a 20–1 favorite and paid little attention to his opponent, having began negotiations for his long-awaited match with Tyson while also being challenged to a possible unification match by WBA Heavyweight Champion John Ruiz.
Lewis Carroll | Jerry Lee Lewis | Jerry Lewis | Lewis | C. S. Lewis | Carl Lewis | John Lewis | Annie Lennox | Sinclair Lewis | Huey Lewis and the News | Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond | Michael Lewis | A. R. Rahman | Juliette Lewis | Lewis gun | Lewis & Clark College | Lewis Hamilton | Lewis Carroll's | Daniel Day-Lewis | Lennox Lewis | Huey Lewis | Stephen Lewis | Ramsey Lewis | Lewis and Clark Expedition | Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox | Michael Lewis (author) | Lewis Black | Lennox | Damian Lewis | Tunku Abdul Rahman |
Lewis had previously been the WBCs number one contender by defeating Razor Ruddock.
The contract Lewis signed prior to his fight with Holyfield stated that Lewis' first defense of his newly won championship would have to come against the WBA's number one contender, who at the time was Lewis' previous adversary Henry Akinwande but because of illness was later changed to John Ruiz.
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In his previous fight, Lennox Lewis had finally captured the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship, unifying the three major heavyweight titles while also claiming the vacant and less-regarded IBO title after defeating Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision.
Rather than face Lewis, Tyson paid him $4 million to step aside and allow Tyson to challenge Bruce Seldon for the WBA Heavyweight title.
First, Lewis took on WBC's number one ranked heavyweight Tony Tucker and defeated him by a lopsided unanimous decision.
The unofficial Associated Press scorecard had Mercer clearly winning the fight by the score of 97–93, while HBO's unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman scored the bout a draw 95–95.
Though many assumed that Foreman had won the match, (both Harold Lederman and the associated press had Foreman ahead by four points on their unofficial scorecards) the three judges saw differently.
Lennox Lewis vs. Tony Tucker, billed as "Star Spangled Glory", was a professional boxing match contested on May 8, 1993 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship.
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After defeating the WBC's number one ranked heavyweight Donovan "Razor" Ruddock on October 31, 1992, Lennox Lewis became the number one contender for the WBC Heavyweight championship, which at the time was unified with both the WBA and IBF versions of the heavyweight title.
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Though George Foreman had been brought up by Lewis as a possible opponent, he ultimately agreed to face the WBC's number one contender Tony Tucker in his first defense.
Tyson was then given the option to compete on the undercard of Lewis' title defense against Vitali Klitschko on June 21, 2003, after which Tyson would have two additional fight before taking on Lewis in the anticipated rematch would take place.