Lennox Lewis BoxingInsider.com Exclusive Biofile Published by Scoop Malinowski Last Updated on April 10th, 2008

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STATUS: 1988 Olympic gold medallist and two-time Heavyweight Champion.
HT: 6-5 WT: 250

BORN ON: Sept. 2, 1965 IN: East London, England

NICKNAMES: Lennie The Lion, Lennox ‘Lethal’ Lewis, The Gentle Giant, Rough & Rugged, Cool & Deadly.

CHILDHOOD SPORTS HERO: Muhammad Ali.

HOBBIES-INTERESTS: Basketball, football, watching movies, playing chess, tennis, video games, ping pong, billiards.

CHILDHOOD DREAM: Fireman.

PREFIGHT FEELING: Very focused. You mustn’t let your mind wander on to anything else when you’re boxing. If you’re not concentrating 100%, you’re courting disaster. There’s a man across the ring trying to take the top of your head off. The only fear I have is the fear of losing. I don’t feel fear or pain or fear of my opponent, because I have prepared myself to deal with anything that happens in a fight. Boxing is the life I’ve chosen and the risk I’ve decided to take. People climb Everest and then suddenly five of them fall off the mountain and die. And people are asking, Why, why, why? Well, just because – because we’re human beings, and we test ourselves with challenges.

FIRST JOB: Shoveling snow in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. I was an entrepreneur [smiles].

FIRST CAR: A big, old boat, I don’t know what it was!

EARLY BOXING MEMORY: When I was a kid and I was running I would sometimes fantasize about boxing. But in an odd way, I was never Muhammad Ali. It was always me fighting his fights. On those runs I must have knocked out George Foreman and Joe Frazier a hundred times in my imagination. But it was always me doing it my way, never Ali doing it his.

FAVORITE MOVIES: Scarface, Raging Bull.

MUSICAL TASTES: Reggae, rap, Bob Marley, dance music.

FAVORITE MEAL: Caribbean, french fries and apple pie ala mode.

FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL: Wheaties or Raisin Bran.

FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR: Rum raisin or chocolate.

GREATEST SPORTS MOMENT: In Canada, when I was going for the 100-mile run and I’d seen her. There she was. She was beautiful and I waved to her. That was a Kodak moment [smiles].

MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: I’d have to sit down and really think about it, but I don’t have too many.

FAVORITE HOLIDAY SPOT: Jamaica.

PEOPLE MOST ADMIRED: Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King.