How Lennox Lewis Achieved a Net Worth of $140 Million
Lennox Lewis is a retired professional boxer with dual British and Canadian citizenship. He competed in the heavyweight category throughout his 14-year career as a boxer and won many titles. It is estimated that this boxer has a personal net worth of $140 million. So, how did Lennox Lewis accrue so much wealth?
History
Born in London on September 2, 1965, Lennox Lewis grew up in West Ham with his parents before the family moved to Ontario, Canada, when Lewis was 12. He was talented in many sports, including soccer, basketball, and Canadian football. However, he soon realized that his favorite sport and the one at which he excelled the most was boxing. He first took up boxing in 1978, although he was not a prominent amateur boxer until 1983 when he won the gold medal at the Junior World Championship. Lewis then represented Canada at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984 in the super-heavyweight division and he reached the quarter-finals. Many believed that Lewis would turn professional after the Olympics, but he decided against this as he wanted another shot at winning an Olympic gold medal. In the meantime, he won a gold medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. Eventually, Lennox Lewis won the Olympic gold medal that he craved at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Once he had achieved his goal, Lewis decided to take the leap and turn professional. He also decided to move back to England, his birth country. He signed with Frank Maloney, a boxing promoter, during his early career before signing with Main Events, an American promoter. Following the switch in promoters, he won the European heavyweight title in 1990. The following year, he won the British title in a fight against Gary Mason, who was world-ranked and undefeated. Lewis won the Commonwealth title in the same year. In 1992, Lewis entered the ring against Donovan Ruddock from Canada and knocked out his opponent in the second round. This put him at number one in the WBC rankings. It also put Lewis in the position of being the main contender for Riddick Bowe’s heavyweight championship. Bowe responded by throwing the title into a trash can at a press conference to avoid defending the title. The WBC made the decision to award the title to Lewis and he became the first boxer from Britain to hold the world heavyweight title in the 20th century.
Lewis went on to defend his title three times against Tony Tucker, Frank Bruno, and Phil Jackson. Although his career was going well overall, Lewis also suffered some defeats. The first of these came against Oliver McCall in 1994. However, he soon made a comeback by replacing his trainer and knocking out Lionel Butler in his comeback fight. This was followed by several more wins for Lennox. He won back his title in a fight against Seldon but then decided to relinquish the title to take on a fight against legendary boxer Evander Holyfield in 1999. This was a controversial fight that was eventually called a score. Some argued that Lewis should have won because he landed 348 punches in comparison to the 130 punches landed by Holyfield. However, Eugenia Williams was one of the judges and she ruled in Holyfield’s favor and explained that she saw him land more punches than Lewis.
Eight months later, Lewis and Holyfield entered the ring for the second time for a rematch. Lewis won the match to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. This win led to hi being voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Lewis’ career then took a downturn when he lost a match against Hasim Rahman in 2001, but the pair had a rematch later in the same year, and this time Lewis took the win. The following year, Lewis defended his title against American boxer Mike Tyson. Lewis knocked Tyson out in the eighth round of the pay-per-view televised match. Regardless of the outcome, both boxers were guaranteed $17.5 million just for entering the ring. The last big fight for Lennox Lewis was against Vitali Klitschko in 2002. This fight guaranteed Lewis $7 million and Klitschko $1.4 million. The fight was stopped before round seven started on the advice of a doctor. A rematch was planned but Lewis changed his mind.
Lewis announced his retirement from professional boxing in February 2004. At the time of his retirement, his professional record was 41 wins, including 32 wins by knockout. He had suffered just two defeats and one draw during his career. Now, Lennox Lewis is estimated to have a personal net worth of $140 million, says Celebrity Net Worth. Most of the wealth he has accrued is from his boxing career. However, he has also made money in several other ways. One of the ways in which Lennox Lewis has made money is from his television and film appearances. He made his film debut in 2001 when he boxed against Wladimir Klitschko is ‘Ocean’s Eleven’. His next small movie role was in the 2006 film ‘Johnny Wall’. His television appearances have included appearing as himself in an episode of ‘The Jersey’ and competing in NBC’s ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ in 2008.
Final Thoughts
Lewis has also appeared in several music videos. The first of these was Reflection Eternal’s debut album ‘Train of Thought’ in 2000. He also appeared in the Jennifer Lopez and LL Cool J video for ‘All I Have’ in 2003. The former boxer has plans to make more money in the future as he has several business endeavors planned. Two ventures in which he has shown an interest include opening an international boxing academy and starting his own record label. However, these are business dreams that he has yet to pursue. In his personal life, Lennox Lewis is married to Violet Chang, who is a former runner-up of the Miss Jamaica contest. The couple has three children together. Following his retirement from boxing, Lewis moved his family to Miami Beach, where they now live in a luxurious property. The family also has a villa in Montego Bay in Jamaica, which is located at the Tryall Golf Club.
