Boxing competition
Lennox Lewis vs. Tony Tucker, billed as Star Spangled Glory, was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between WBC champion Lennox Lewis and the WBC's number one ranked contender Tony Tucker. The bout took place on May 8, 1993 at the Thomas &amp; Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada, U.S. Lewis retained his WBC title via unanimous decision.
Background.
After defeating the WBC's number one ranked heavyweight Donovan "Razor" Ruddock on October 31, 1992, Lennox Lewis became the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight title, which at the time was unified with both the WBA and IBF versions of the heavyweight title.
Two weeks after his victory over Ruddock, challenger Riddick Bowe defeated champion Evander Holyfield to claim all three titles and become the new undisputed heavyweight champion.
Bowe and Lewis' camps attempted to get a deal done but negotiations broke down after Lewis' manager Frank Maloney rejected both deals that Bowe's manager Rock Newman offered. The first deal offered was a 90–10 split between the two fighters that would net Lewis $3 million while Bowe would take home $29 million, but Maloney refused the deal, calling it "absurd". Newman then offered Lewis $2.5 million to take an interim fight against an opponent of his choosing after which he would proceed with his championship fight with Bowe where he would earn an additional $9 million but that deal was also refused.
Because a deal could not be made, Bowe instead chose to vacate his WBC title and proceeded to make the first defense of his remaining titles against Michael Dokes. Based on the strength of his victory over Ruddock, the WBC decided to name Lewis the new WBC heavyweight champion.
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. Tucker briefly held the IBF heavyweight title in 1987 but lost it in his first defense against Mike Tyson only three months later. After his loss to Tyson, Tucker was out of boxing for over two years before launching a comeback late in 1989. Tucker was then able to put together a string of 14 consecutive wins to get his record up 48–1 by the time of his fight with Lewis.
Despite his impressive record, Tucker was given little chance of defeating Lewis and came into the fight as a 6–1 underdog.
The fights.
Jackson vs. McClellan.
The first of the three world title bouts on the card saw WBC middleweight champion make his fifth defence against former WBO titleholder Gerald McClellan. Jackson was a 9 to 5 favourite to win.
The fight.
McClellan was rocked by a big overhand right within the first 30 seconds of the bout, with his knees almost touching the canvas. Jackson recovered to cause a slight cut over McClellan's left eye in the 2nd. An unintentional head butt gashed Jackson's left eye late in the third round. As per the then WBC rules McClellan was deduced a point by referee Mills Lane.
In the fifth round Jackson hurt McClellan with a pair of low blows, with the challenger using a full 30 seconds to recover before resuming the bout.
Shortly after the resumption, a right hand followed by two left hooks to the head sent Jackson down. He beat the count but McClellan would send him again down again with a straight right hand to the jaw. Jackson again made it do his feet but Lane didn't like what he saw and opted to wave the bout off, giving McClellan a TKO victory.
Aftermath.
McClellan was linked to a bout against WBC light middleweight champion Terry Norris.
Chávez vs. Alli.
The penultimate bout on the card would see unbeaten WBC super lightweight champion Julio César Chávez face No. 1 ranked contender Terrence Alli.
The fight.
Chávez would dominate the bout forcing Alli to spend much of the bout in retreat.
Early in the 6th round, the challenger was sent to the canvas with a six-punch flurry, the last being a left hand. He beat the count but another Chávez barrage ensued.
Referee Carlos Padilla Jr. would step in between the two boxers which Chávez took to mean that the bout was being waved off and as such turned and walked to his corner. Alli, who did not seem badly injured, begged to be allowed to continue and Padilla appeared to relente and waved him toward Chávez. However at that point Chávez was almost back to his stool hence he then decided to end the fight once and for all.
Aftermath.
Chávez would criticize the referee's performance saying "I didn't like the way the referee handled the fight. I didn't like the knockdown count."
Main Event.
Like his previous championship fight with Tyson, Tucker was able to go the full twelve rounds with the much younger Lewis but was unable to put together much offense during the bout. Lewis was able to twice knockdown Tucker, who had previously never been knocked down in 50 fights as a professional. The first came during the final minute of the third round. Tucker attempted to hit Lewis with a jab with about 40 seconds left, but Lewis was able to dodge it and quickly landed a strong right hook that dropped Tucker to the canvas for the first time in his career. In round eight, Tucker seemingly had Lewis in trouble after landing an over 20-punch combination late in the round. However, Lewis would turn the tables on Tucker and dominate the final 25 seconds of the round, landing several power punches that clearly hurt Tucker, who tried in vain to clinch Lewis and survive the remainder of the round. After failing to hold on to Lewis, Tucker backed into the corner with 10 seconds left and was promptly met with a three-punch combination from Lewis, though he was able to get a hold of Lewis and survive the round without being knocked down. As round nine began, Lewis charged at Tucker and was quickly able to gain a second knockdown after landing a right hook to the side of Tucker's head. Nevertheless, Tucker was able to survive the remainder of the fight, but Lewis was able to pick up a lopsided unanimous decision with scores of 118–111, 117–111 and 116–112. The Associated Press scored it 117–110 for Lewis.
Aftermath.
Lewis next agreed to face compatriot Frank Bruno in an historic all british heavyweight bout in Cardiff.
Undercard.
Confirmed bouts:
References.
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