8: Tyson bites Lewis; Lewis beats Tyson

Lennox Lewis looms over Mike Tyson after knocking him out in the eighth round. AP

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Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson dominated boxing for the first half of the year, beginning with a press conference melee in January and not ending until Lewis pounded Tyson into submission in the eighth round on June 8 in Memphis.

Lewis claimed that he was bitten in the New York fracas by Tyson, whose outburst of obscenities led Nevada boxing authorities to refuse him a license, forcing promoters to scurry around the country trying to find a place for the lucrative fight.

The fight generated enormous interest and enormous revenues. Nearly 2 million households watched on pay-per-view in the United States, and the two fighters made some US$25 million apiece.

The buildup to the fight was spectacular, and so was the performance of Lewis, who dominated Tyson from the second round on and exposed the formerly fearsome champion as an aging fighter with few remaining skills.

Tyson was left baffled, bewildered and bleeding, so badly beaten that he was even questioning his own skills. The man who once said he wanted to eat Lewis' children hugged and praised the WBC champion in the ring after the bout.

"There's no way I could ever beat him," Tyson said. "He's just too big and too strong."

The fight was the only one of the year for both heavyweights, although Tyson is returning to Memphis on Feb. 22 to resume his career against Clifford Etienne. Lewis will likely fight in April, then the two are contractually obligated to meet in a rematch after that.

As Tyson was trying to work his way back to a title shot, Lewis elected to take $1 million and a sport utility vehicle from promoter Don King to vacate the IBF belt.

While Lewis and Tyson went to Memphis, of all places, for the biggest fight of the year, the best fights of 2002, took place in more traditional sites.

Oscar De La Hoya had perhaps the defining moment of his career when he stopped Fernando Vargas in the 11th round of their 154-pound title fight in Las Vegas, while Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales fought their second featherweight battle in the fight capital.

No titles were at stake for Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward, but they both fought like champions in splitting a pair of wars in a Connecticut casino and then in Atlantic City.

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.