BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Lackluster Lewis Fails to Make Case

Lennox Lewis has a serious problem, getting worse by the day: The more he fights, the more the World Boxing Council heavyweight belt looks wrong on him.

The more Lewis fights, the better for Riddick Bowe, who says Lewis is merely an average heavyweight who has his title because Bowe didn’t want any part of the WBC.

Sure, Lewis absorbed some shots in his fight against Frank Bruno, but the real damage came when the reviews of his not-ready-for-prime-time performance rolled in.

Comparing the power and velocity of both punishments, his reputation might not make it through his fight with the lightly regarded Bruno as cleanly as his forehead did.

Somebody stop this man before he fights--and loses even more respect as a claimant to the heavyweight throne--again.

“The one thing that bothers me most about watching Lennox Lewis, he never seems to have a set plan of attack,” trainer Alex Shearer said of the 6-foot-5 British-born fighter. “I’ve never seen him do all of the things that a tall guy should be doing.

“He’s just a guy who’s going backwards. He’s regressing. And he was struggling with a shot, worn out, rusty, glass-chinned fighter.”

In the second defense of his WBC heavyweight title, staged in the late-night chill of Wales for U.S. television, Lewis lunged and stumbled his way through six awkward rounds against Bruno, who seemed to be controlling the fight and stayed safely away from Lewis’ dangerous overhand right.

Lewis finally caught Bruno on the chin with a left hook in the seventh that, for all intents and purposes, ended the fight. But Lewis hasn’t shown big-time knockout firepower since a first-round knockout of Razor Ruddock a year ago.

Is Lewis, who beat Bowe in a gold-medal match in the 1988 Olympics, a threat to Bowe’s status as the legitimate heavyweight champion? Not after that showing, and not if you listen to Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager, who sounds close to giddy when he talks about Lewis’ loopy effort against Bruno.

“That uninspired, amateurish performance just showcased Riddick Bowe as the heavyweight champ of the world, unquestioned,” Newman said from Lake Tahoe, Nev., where Bowe is training for next month’s rematch against Evander Holyfield.

“So we got what we wanted to get out of it. Lennox stayed alive as a possible big fight for Riddick (but) Lennox certainly hurt his negotiating strength. Everybody from London to Louisville says, ‘Hey, Riddick Bowe’s the champion.’ It’s a pretty good situation for us. It’s pretty bad for Lennox.”

Those associated with Lewis don’t disagree that he could have been more impressive, but argue that too much is being read into one slow stretch of rounds.

“I think when you’ve got a heavyweight championship belt around your waist, the only impressive thing is who wins, who loses,” said Dan Duva, who has a slice of Lewis’ promotional rights.

“You try to always look your best, make all the fans be satisfied with your performance. But at the end of the day, the most impressive thing is winning.”

But positioning for share of a possible $25-million unification bout is all about perceptions. Since he took the unified title from Holyfield and tossed aside the WBC version for Lewis to pick up, Bowe simply has put away his little-regarded challengers a lot better than Lewis has his.

“If you look at Bowe fight,” said Shearer, “everybody looks at him fighting Jesse Ferguson, (and) he fought (Michael) Dokes. OK, those guys, they didn’t deserve title shots, they were bums or lower-class contenders. But he treated them just like bums.

“For a 6-5 guy, Lewis seems to be fighting like he’s 6 feet tall. He doesn’t use his reach, his elbows flap away from his body like a bird flying south for the winter. If anybody gets close to him, he’s fumbling, he doesn’t know how to tie up. He’s very stilted in his attack.”

*

The one downside to this for the Bowe camp is that Lewis’ performances are reducing the public’s thirst for a Bowe-Lewis fight, which could drop it well below the $50-million level once mentioned.

Next up for Lewis is a March date against World Boxing Organization title-holder Tommy Morrison. Assuming Bowe gets past Holyfield and then probably Michael Moorer in the spring, Newman is counting on Lewis-Morrison generating a moderate amount of interest, with the winner finally taking on Bowe sometime next year.

And now, for the first time, boxing observers are actually giving Morrison more than a slugger’s chance against Lewis.

“In that fight, you’ve got two guys, both of whom can punch pretty well but have no defense and have no chins,” Newman said. “I think somebody’s going to get knocked out. And I hope in some spectacular fashion, so the person who does the knocking out will emerge with some real credibility.”

*

If Bowe needed any more inspiration while preparing for Holyfield, he got it last week when Mike Tyson called his hotel room from prison. Tyson told Bowe he had heard a rumor that the champion was injured in an exhibition and wanted to make sure it wasn’t true. It wasn’t.

“Mike is a down-to-earth brother,” Bowe said, “and I appreciate his support.”

Bowe, who grew up with Tyson in Brooklyn, visited Tyson in jail last month.

Boxing Notes

International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Roy Jones Jr. says he won’t fight in Mississippi anymore after hearing second-hand reports that Billy Lyons, the chairman of the state’s athletic commission, made racial slurs against him after Jones beat Thulane Malinga in Bay St. Louis, Miss., in August.

Lyons denies the charges made by Stanley Levin, a Jones adviser, who says Lyons directed the remarks to him. Jones lives in Pensacola, Fla., a short drive from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is trying to become a center of boxing activity.

Levin said Lyons criticized the dress and speech of the boxer and said that his fighting style did not appeal to white fans. Levin also said Lyons urged him to tell Jones not to date white women.

Reconstruction of the Olympic Auditorium continues--as do the off-and-on negotiations between promoter Bob Arum and Olympic owner Jack Needleman, who are trying to figure out who will foot how much of the $5-million bill for the renovations. Arum said this week that recent action on the site has made him more optimistic about possibly staging Oscar De La Hoya’s first title shot in the Olympic in early February. These talks might have been spurred by problems between Arum and the Anaheim Arena.

Brothers Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas, both No. 1-ranked challengers in their respective weight divisions, are scheduled on a fight card Oct. 22 at Boise State University. Gabriel (34-2), the World Boxing Council’s No. 1-ranked junior-lightweight, will fight Mike Grow (23-5-1). No opponent has been chosen for Rafael (38-1), the No. 1-ranked lightweight challenger in the World Boxing Assn. and IBF.

A featherweight matchup between Pancho Segura (23-6) and Abe Gomez (15-10-1) will be the main event Saturday at the Empire Polo Club & Equestrian Club in Indio.

Calendar

Monday: Genaro Hernandez vs. Harold Warren, WBA junior-lightweight championship. Carlos Gonzalez vs. Luis Maysonet, junior-welterweights. Forum, 7:30 p.m.