Lennox Lewis heard talk in 2000 that Michael Grant was boxing’s next great heavyweight. By Thomas Hauser
THE mid-20th century gave birth to a new breed of athlete; men who were big, well-coordinated, and faster than men their size had been before. By the start of the new millennium, athletes had further honed their natural gifts and were even bigger than their predecessors. Two heavyweights personified this trend: Lennox Lewis and Michael Grant. When they met in the ring at Madison Square Garden on April 29, 2000, Lewis was the reigning heavyweight champion. But Grant was seen in some circles as the heir apparent to the throne.
Last modified on Sun 27 Dec 2020 09.33 EST
When Mike Tyson announced he was fighting an eight-round exhibition against Roy Jones Jr over Thanksgiving weekend after floating the idea of a comeback on Instagram for most of 2020, youâd have been forgiven if you dismissed the whole thing as a cynical money grab.
Nostalgia is a powerful narcotic. And the unspoken allure of old-timers exhibitions like Tyson v Jones is that people are paying not for the product on offer but a memory â a feeling. Embedded in the sales pitch of a Tyson fight was the promise of transporting the customer even briefly to a fairer, better time that mostly exists in our memories.