Throughout the entire decade of the 1990s, the heavyweight division saw an amazing level of talented fighters. FIghters like James “Buster” Douglas, Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison, Michael Moorer, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, David Tua, and many others provided the 1990s with some amazing heavyweight fights throughout the decade. On November 13, 1999, as the decade came to an end, there were only two heavyweights that came out of it as they met for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world: Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield.

November 13th was the 25th anniversary of a rematch with the most egregious decision in heavyweight championship boxing history. Lewis and Holyfield would meet at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas to determine who was the heavyweight of the 90s and who would become the first Undisputed Heavyweight Champion since Riddick Bowe beat Holyfield exactly 7 years earlier. After Bowe tossed a belt in the garbage can to avoid Lennox Lewis, the world was waiting for all the “belts” to come together to crown one Heavyweight as the Undisputed Champion. 

This was a rematch of arguably the worst decision in boxing history when Lewis gave Holyfield a boxing lesson exactly 8 months before when the two fighters met at Madison Square Garden. A fight where Lewis won by basically a 10-2 margin in rounds, the fight was ruled a split draw to where both fighters retained their belts, causing controversy and chaos after fight. The fight prompted an investigation to one of the judges who inexplicably scored the fight for Holyfield as she was brought in for questioning, and that spun off a federal investigation into how the “governing bodies” conducted business in terms of the criteria for fighter rankings and assigning judges to big time fights.

To control the post fight chaos of months earlier, all of the “governing bodies” ruled that an immediate rematch had to take place shortly after the fight. Negotiations began shortly after, and it was set for November 13, 1999. Citing the controversial outcome of the first fight, Nevada State Athletic Commission picked their own judges by sending out the most experienced and credible judges the sport had to offer.

The fight started out with both guys trying to establish their jab early on, with each fighter having success with it. Holyfield was trying the best he could to get inside Lewis’s long reach, with little to no success. Lewis would either tie Holyfield up, or land uppercuts and right hands of his own, many of them unable to hurt the always tough and durable Holyfield. However, as the fight went into the middle rounds, Holyfield started to have success as he was able to land with uppercuts and left hooks to where he had Lennox Lewis on the defensive. An exchange in the end of the 7th round where both fighters had their moments made the fight very competitive.

With greatness on the line, and a chance at revenge and respect, Lewis went back to how he dominated Holyfield the first time by using his long reach and kept Holyfield at the end of his long reach. From the 8th round to the end, he took full control of the fight by winning 4 of the last 5 rounds of the fight. When the decision was announced, the heavyweight division of the 90s came to the end, and there was only one that came out on top.

The winner, by unamimous decision, and the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world as well as the top heavyweight of the 1990s:  Lennox “The Lion” Lewis from East London, England.

The win meant more than just winning the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship.  The win was revenge after being victimized by an egregious decision to Holyfield eight months earlier. It was also personal redemption for a fighter who worked very hard to get to this moment that saw Bowe throw the belt in the garbage can to breath a mandatory agreement in 1993 and Mike Tyson refused to fight him twice as his scheduled mandatory in 1996. When the moment came to fight Evander Holyfield twice in 1999, he wasn’t going to be denied. His mission was to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world, and an all-time great.

He accomplished those two missions on November 13th, hard to believe it has been 25 years ago. His place in history is forever secured.

Photo Credit; The Fight City, BBC, YouTube

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