It’s Lights Out in London as Lewis Knocks Out Botha

Francois Botha was the lumbering target in front of Lennox Lewis. Mike Tyson, though, was on his mind.

Three weeks after Tyson dared to try to ruin Lewis’ homecoming, the heavyweight champion took out his frustrations Saturday night on Botha, stopping him in the second round in a performance that thrilled his countrymen.

“Tell Mike Tyson to either put up or shut up,” Lewis said after successfully defending his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles against a surprisingly inept Botha.

Lewis made his first fight in six years in his native England a short one as he stalked Botha from the opening bell. The end came with Tyson-like suddenness as Lewis landed a right-left-right combination that left Botha sprawled under the ropes in Lewis’ corner.

“He’s been talking about what he can eat,” Lewis said, upset about Tyson’s child-eating comments after stopping Lou Savarese June 24 in Scotland.

Lewis (37-1-1, 29 knockouts) then held up his right hand and said, “I’ll show him what he can eat.”

It was a sweeter outcome for Lewis than the last time he defended a title in London, when Oliver McCall stopped him in the second round for his only loss.

“It was very special to come back home and show the world how much I improved,” Lewis said.

It was also special to the 10,000 fans who nearly filled the London Arena to cheer the 34-year-old who has never been wildly acclaimed in the country of his birth despite his success in the ring.

The crowd roared as Lewis made a theatrical entrance between two torches and kept roaring as Lewis thoroughly dominated Botha and then patiently stalked him to bring the fight to a quick end.

“It was a good stoppage,” Lewis said. “The referee asked him if he could continue, and he didn’t say anything.”

Lewis was a 15-1 favorite against Botha (40-3-1, 25 KOs), who was 1-1-1 in his last three fights, including a fifth-round stoppage by Tyson in January 1999.

Unlike that fight, though, when Botha outboxed Tyson for four rounds, he was never a threat to Lewis. He began backpedaling almost from the opening bell and, when he did throw punches, they were mostly wild misses.

Lewis earned $6 million for the fight, in which he hand-picked Botha as an opponent for his homecoming. He will next fight David Tua, the IBF’s No. 1-ranked contender, probably in November.

In the featured match on the undercard, Ukrainian heavyweight Vladimir Klitschko (34-1, 32 KOs) floored Monte Barrett (23-2) in the opening round but then lumbered to an unimpressive seventh-round stoppage against the American.