Lewis pulls no punches in candid documentary
I’m a positive person and I like to stay positive and I like positive people around me. I think that’s important.”
No one is immune to mental health challenges. Not even kings.
In a new feature- length documentary from Verdi Productions, Lennox Lewis, who retired in 2004 as the undisputed world heavyweight champion, speaks frankly about the demons that haunted him from an early age well into adulthood — and how he conquered them.
Narrated by legendary hip- hop artist Dr Dre, Lennox: The Untold Story is a riveting look at Lewis’ rise from a troubled childhood to winning gold for Canada at the 1988 Seoul Olympics before turning pro and vanquishing the likes of Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko to solidify his standing as one of the greatest champions in boxing history.
“Dr Dre is a great guy,” Lewis told boxingscene. com ahead of the film’s release last week. “He’s a professional, a perfectionist, and he doesn’t get involved with things unless it’s a good project, so I was very happy when we asked him to be involved and he said yes. I’ve always liked him and his music, but doing the documentary gave me time to really speak with him.
“It’s mind- boggling how he looks at certain things. The film takes a look at my life and my career, and there’s a lot of things people didn’t know and haven’t seen, so I’m very happy with that aspect of it.”
The documentary provides unprecedented insight into Lewis’ journey from his birthplace in West Ham, east London, to relocating with his mother to Kitchener, Canada, at the age of 12. Growing up, he struggled to fit in before finding an outlet for his frustrations by playing basketball and football and then taking up boxing at 14.
From the first time he put on gloves, Lewis demonstrated the quiet confidence and inner resilience that would become his trademarks in the pro ranks. Representing Canada, he won titles at the junior world amateur championships in 1983 and the Commonwealth Games in 1986 before striking Olympic gold in Seoul — all the while being urged by his coaches to overcome his natural instincts and become more aggressive.
“Success is about staying positive,” he said. “I’m a positive person and I like to stay positive and I like
Lennox Lewis, on conquering his mental- health demons
positive people around me. I think that’s important. Then, I don’t look at a bad situation as bad.
“I say, ‘ What can I learn from it and what can I take from this situation?’ And if it’s really bad, do not let it happen again.
“The reason people look at mental health as a taboo is because they don’t really understand it, but once you realize that you need some education on it, you’ ll have a better understanding. That’s what happened with me. I think all athletes go through that, even before they lose, even going through training, even going through life. I grew up in the sense we didn’t talk about it, we just got on with it.”
While Holyfield continued to fight until he was 50 and Tyson returned to the ring over the weekend for an exhibition bout at age 54, Lewis, who compiled a record of 41- 2- 1 with 32 KOs, never looked back.
“I looked at the history of why people come back and I said to myself, ‘ These people came back because they had nothing else to do,’ ” he said.
“When I retired there were a lot of people saying I should come back or go and fight this guy or that guy. I looked at a lot of athletes that did this type of thing, like Michael Jordan who went to baseball and then went back to basketball. I watched him, I was a great Michael Jordan fan, but it didn’t seem he had the same thing he left with.
“The younger guys are always coming up; there’s going to be younger and hungrier guys that are out there, so even though I retired you’re going to get people saying you should come back or thinking you’re still coming back, but you need to know in yourself if you still want the life or have another life to go to. For me, there are other goals I want to accomplish.”