USA: LENNOX LEWIS SAYS HE WILL RETIRE IF HE DOES NOT DEFEAT HASIM RAHMAN IN HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING MATCH IN OCTOBER

Record ID: 647271

  • Title: USA: LENNOX LEWIS SAYS HE WILL RETIRE IF HE DOES NOT DEFEAT HASIM RAHMAN IN HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING MATCH IN OCTOBER
  • Date: 29th August 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 29TH, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. MINUTEMEN MARCH INTO PRESS CONFERENCE PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 2. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 3. DON KING POSING WITH BOXERS HASIM RAHMAN AND LENNOX LEWIS 4. RAHMAN SITTING DOWN 5. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) RAHMAN SAYING "Well I thought I would win the fight, and I thought I would win by knockout so the way the knockout happened was just unbelievable, because it was like a knockout you would see somebody else do and you wouldn't do yourself. I knocked out plenty of people, but that was just icing on the cake." 6. CUTAWAY 7. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) RAHMAN SAYING "Definitely I am going to train even harder. I am training harder already. I am stronger already for the last fight. I am getting better. I am learning more things. I am still getting better, and Lennox is coming down so I think time is right for me to keep on retaining this title." 8. LENNOX LEWIS SITTING DOWN. 9. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) LENNOX LEWIS SAYING "Yes, definitely the most important figh6t because if I don't win this one, I might as well not go on. So I am putting everything into this fight. I am going after my belt. Rahman is the champ just for the moment until I get there." 10. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) LEWIS SAYING "Just a little technical error. You can't walk into the ring without getting wet. This is something that happens in heavyweight boxing. Rahman lost two fights before I gave him a heavyweight opportunity to fight me and eat some food and now he got everything twisted and started running away and said he did not want to fight me and fight somebody else. We were not going to allow that because he signed two contracts saying there was going to be a rematch before we even allowed the fight." 11. CUTAWAY 12. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) LEWIS SAYING "I predict Lennos Lewis will be victorious and I am taking this fight absolutely seriously. If I lose I will retire, so that is how serious I am taking it. 13. LEWIS AND RAHMAN POSING IN FRONT OF PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH DON KING Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9ED6HGPXQBPHLPHFLQZAHW6A
  • Story Text: Boxer Lennox Lewis plans to retire if he does not
    defeat Heavyweight Champion Hasim "The Rock" Rahman on
    November 17th in Las Vegas.



    Four months after Hasim Rahman brought home two world
    heavyweight titles, he treated his city to some Las Vegas
    showmanship. Rahman and Lennox Lewis squared off on Wednesday
    (August 29) in New York at the Plaza Hotel in a courtroom
    drama staged to hype their November 17 rematch at Mandalay Bay
    Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

    Rahman, from Baltimore, became the WBC and IBF champion by
    knocking out Lewis in the fifth round on April 22 in South
    Africa. King called the evidence of Rahman's victory
    inconclusive at the press conference.

    After Rahman signed on with King, the promoter tried to
    schedule a fight against Brian Nielsen of Denmark. But Lewis
    sued King and others in Rahman's camp, contending there was a
    rematch clause in the original fight contract.

    A federal judge ruled this summer that if Rahman did not
    fight Lewis, he could not fight anyone else for 18 months. The
    two sides finally announced details of the rematch last week.

    Rahman sounded quietly confident, saying Lewis was on the
    way down while he was on the way up and described his knockout
    as the icing on the cake.

    Lewis said he would retire if he lost again and promised
    he would regain his title.


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