World Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis of Britain is so fed up with boxing's rulers that he is considering giving up his WBC and IBF heavyweight titles, he told British daily The Sun on Tuesday.
Lewis, whose victory over American Evander Holyfield last November unified the heavyweight division and made him the undisputed king of world boxing, has already had his WBA title taken away by the courts after a contract row with promoter Don King.
Now, though, he claims he is so disenchanted at being told by the world governing bodies whom he can and cannot fight he is contemplating throwing his titles back into the ring and taking on whoever the boxing public want him to.
Lewis is set to fight unbeaten American Michael Grant in New York on Saturday in defense of his WBC and IBF titles and said:
"I have seriously thought about giving up my titles - why should I fight who the organizations tell me to when some decisions are clearly influenced by fight promoters and managers?
"I might as well give back the belts and just get into the ring with whoever the public want me to face. They are the people who matter; they pay the price of a big ticket on a big fight night or phone the TV company to watch on pay-per-view.
"Let the public choose. Their voices should be heard. They want real fights, not fights that have been engineered" -- LONDON (AFP).
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
