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May 13th, 1995. “The Lion” Lennox Lewis collided with “The Train” Lionel Butler in a WBC world title eliminator as part of a doubleheader billed as “Back-to-Back Comebacks” which also featured Michael Moorer who was looking for a rebound (just as Lewis) after being handed his first professional loss.
At this juncture, Lewis and Butler were respectively ranked No. 2 and No. 3 by the WBC.
Prefight records; Lewis 25(21)-1, Butler 26(21)-10-1.
In September 1994, 5.5-1 betting favorite Lewis was shockingly upset by Oliver McCall via TKO2 and relieved of his WBC Heavyweight Title in London, United Kingdom.
After the loss, Lewis fired his trainer Pepe Corea and enlisted Emanuel Stewart, who led McCall to achieve his biggest career victory by knocking him out in his own backyard.
Interestingly, Corea was in Butler’s corner at this night and was staring at Lewis with a lot of hatred and anger for being dismissed by the future legend.
For his first test under the tutelage of the Godfather of Detroit Boxing, he took on the awkward hard hitting Butler.
Note: Butler had a mediocre 6(2)-10-1 run since his career began in February 1989 up till his 17th bout in April 1991 but he went on to rack up an impressive string of 16 wins between October 1991 and March 1995. Unfortunately, he weighed 261 pounds against Lewis (who went in at 248) which was about 30 pounds heavier than his ideal weight.
Entering the bout, the 27 year old Butler had defeated the likes of Tony Tubbs & James Smith while the 29 year old Lewis had notable triumphs over Tony Tucker, Tyrell Biggs, Phil Jackson, Frank Bruno, Gary Mason & Donovan Ruddock.
Overall, Lewis showed certain improvements (particularly his jab) while displaying a number of past flaws but he nonetheless got the job done with little trouble and derailed the tough Californian’s long winning streak via TKO5.
In round 3, Lewis was cautioned by referee Marty Denkin for pivoting and simultaneously throwing a punch at Butler.
In round 4, Butler was rocked with a huge right hand.
In round 5, Butler was down thrice; he was floored with a right-left combination seconds after the bell was rung, pushed to the canvas by Lewis as retaliation for rabbit punching and finally a number of jabs with 2 right hands just seconds before the bell that prompted Denkin to wave off the bout.
After the loss, Butler no longer compete at top level but continued fighting till 2010 before hanging up his gloves with a final record of 32(25)-17-1.
In September 1995, Oliver McCall lost his WBC Heavyweight Title via UD12 to Frank Bruno who was supposed to make his first defense against Lennox Lewis but the WBC chose to unfairly bypassed him in favor of Mike Tyson who was on a comeback trail after being granted an early release from prison.
In March 1996, Tyson decimated and retired Bruno via TKO3 to become the 2x WBC Heavyweight Champion.
Instead of making his first defense against Lewis, Tyson elected to vacate the WBC title to secure a showdown against Evander Holyfield with his WBA Heavyweight Title on the line.
With the WBC crown hanging in the balance, Lewis finally earned his long overdue opportunity by way of a rematch against McCall in February 1997.
In one of the most unusual incidents in the history of the sport, referee Mills Lane was left with no choice but to call off the bout due to McCall’s mental breakdown resulting from the effects of drug withdrawal thus Lewis was declared the winner via TKO5 to become the 2x WBC Heavyweight Champion in memorable albeit bizarre fashion.
Enjoy this simple highlight of one part of the Back-to-Back COMEBACKS doubleheader and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE for continuous boxing awesomeness!