"I may have to come back and grab the money from these younger cats and say, 'hey, you guys are having too much fun!' They're throwing money and making it rain and all that. We gotta get some of that," stated the last great heavyweight king Lennox Lewis as he joked about coming out of retirement. Check out what else he had to say as Emperor Lewis sets the record straight about a comeback and shares his thoughts on Wladimir Klitschko, Sam Peter, the rumored Holyfield-Tyson 3 bout, mixed martial arts and his own background in wrestling, his experiene on "Celebrity Apprentice" and much more.
PC: How are you doing Champ?
LL: Yeah, very good.
PC: You've just finished wrapping "Celebrity Apprentice." How was that experience for you?
LL: It was good man. That's what I'm wrapping up right now this week. It taught me different things about business; made me realize what my strengths were. It showed me to always go with my strength; taught me how to focus, execute and have a clear plan.
PC: Was it everything you expected or was it a lot tougher than you thought it would be?
LL: I didn't really know what to expect. I had no expectations, but I thought it would be like the original show, but the celebrity one was different, obviously, because we're playing for charity. That was the main drive that was pushing me to do this type of thing.
PC: Can we expect to see you on the big screen more and doing shows like this?
LL: Oh yeah! Definitely! I'm into those inconspicuous roles.
PC: There were some rumors out that you smacked Tito Ortiz around on the taping of the show. Is there any truth to that?
LL: No, it wouldn't be fair for me and Tito to fight.
PC: You're too big for him, huh?
LL: Too big, too strong and too fast!
PC: Do you watch mixed martial arts Champ?
LL: Yeah!
PC: Oh, so you enjoy watching it?
LL: Yeah! I like watching it, but I wouldn't want to do it. Obviously, when Tito Ortiz was here, he showed me a couple of things and you know I was a wrestler anyway so it's always great to learn armbars and all of those separate moves. Those guys don't get paid as much money as they should. The longevity in that sport is about 4 years. We're dealing with the sweet science here.
PC: You commentated a very exciting fight the other night. What did you think of the Casamayor-Katsidis fight?
LL: Yeah man! I felt that Casamayor started off very strong with the 2 knockdowns and siezed the moment. We got to understand in the later rounds that it wasn't a fluke because the Australian, Katsidis, actually did run into the punches again (laughing) and for the life of me, I couldn't understand. You could be a "Spartan Warrior", but you have to have a little bit of sense. Man, why are you knocking yourself out (laughing) I mean
PC: Actually Lennox, I had it to where maybe he couldn't have cruised, but he definitely didn't have to go for it like that, you know?
LL: Yeah. No, he was winning the fight. Even at the end of the fight, he was winning by one point. If you're going to be a fighter, you have to be
pugilism
the art of pugilism and to be a great champion, you gotta know everything about it like its war. You have to have a great strategy, gameplan and execution; all of those things. If you're going in there and saying, "I'm just going to execute and go until I drop," that doesn't even make sense. He was winning on just wearing Casamayor down.
PC: In the past couple of weeks, we've seen Casamayor and Nate Campbell, two older guys, win big fights. Are you getting that itch back or are you still cool?
LL: I think that's good.
PC: That's good, but are you getting that itch back or you still cool?
LL: Oh, no, no. I'm still cool. I'm still cool, but you didn't hear about the Tyson, me and Holyfield one yet?
PC: I heard about Tyson and Holyfield 3.
LL: Yeah, that's what I heard. I heard that ones coming. If that's the case, boy, we may have to put on an oldies show for ya'll. I may have to come back and grab the money from these younger cats and say, "hey, you guys are having too much fun!" They're throwing money and making it rain and all that. We gotta get some of that!
PC: Man, if Tyson and Holyfield mix it up again and make that paper, you better get in there with somebody.
LL: Ah man! One of the biggest reasons I'm not coming back, I'm trying to not do a Michael Jordan. Why mess with the legacy; it's already sealed and delivered.
PC: You can't really go out any better than being the champ. John Elway style baby.
LL: Yeah, for real.
PC: What do you think about Tyson-Holyfield 3? Is that something you would be interested in watching?
LL: Yeah, I would go to it. Definitely! If I see Tyson really training properly, I would go to it because I would say, "Okay, he's really trying to win."
PC: Yeah, he was at the Pacquiao/ Marquez fights I believe and he looked a little heavy.
LL: Yeah he looked like a bowling pin right now. He looks like a little bowling ball.
PC: It looks like you stay in pretty good shape. Do you still run and train?
LL: Well, the only thing I can say is I wish I could train a bit more, but you've never seen a skinny king!
PC: You're eating good, huh Champ?
LL: Of course!
PC: We saw Peter-Maskaev and Klitschko-Ibrahimov fight recently, but I think people are still like, "so what!" Do any of these guys impress you?
LL: I think Peter fought a good fight. I like the way he exposed Maskaev, but I was kind of shocked that Maskaev didn't put up a better fight. I think it looked like it was either an injury or age. You can't take it away from Peter though because he took him apart and went for it. That gave him a lot of confidence to go fourth and concur.
PC: It seems like the natural pick to lean towards is Wladimir as the prolific heavyweight right now, but do you see it that way?
LL: It's difficult to say any heavyweight is right now. Obviously Klitschko is leading the pack, but he's not really impressing anybody. He's not really saying, "Yo, I am the king; I am the new ruler." He's just saying he's a participant and "I still have flaws and problems that I'm working on." If you want to step up, you have to step up like I did against Botha. You have to look stunning.
PC: Yeah, that was a nasty combo you threw on Botha man.
LL: That's what I'm saying. I was in it to win it and I was out there trying to throw the best combination and impose my will on my opponent and show them that I am the ruler. It's ways of doing that. Obviously you want to do it constructively, behind the jab, or you do it in a setup form and you set traps to work him into your favorite punch. That's what I did to Rahman in the 2nd fight. The same punch that I knocked him out with was the same punch I was trying since the 1st round; all I did was readjust it. You work towards a goal and the goal is to be victorious as soon as possible, but if you're playing with it and not doing what you were supposed to do, we can see that from the outside and that's not impressing us.
PC: When you retired from boxing, did you think it would be this long, and honestly no one has set themselves apart from the pack yet, but did you think another guy would step right in and fill your void?
LL: I think, for one, it showed the impact that I had and I would say that in boxing, there's always an eruption of a great superstar and we're just waiting for the next one. I am the last great heavyweight!
PC: You have definitely cemented your place in history. Would you like to write a book or do a movie on your career?
LL: Yeah! Obviously this is about excelling, striving and evolving in whatever I do, whether it's writing a book or doing an exercise video or whatever. I always strive to be the best.
PC: We'll be getting to watch some good fights coming to HBO: Hopkins-Calzaghe and De La Hoya- Forbes. How important is it for the sport that these fights are on regular HBO opposed to PPV?
LL: It really breaks down to how much people see you. Even if it was on a local station that is seen all over America, that would be even better. Any time a good fight is on TV, I always hope a lot of people get to see it because they're not as good hearing about them. People deserve great fights and these are some good fights.
PC: Anytime you hear things like, this guy could be the next Lennox Lewis, what do you think about that? Kind of like Audley Harrison was supposed to be the next Lennox Lewis. What do you think happened to him? Do you think he was just Olympic hype?
LL: Oh no! I don't really listen to that talk (laughing). Listen, I gotta go man!
PC: Thanks for your time Champ. Sorry I kept you on so long.
LL: It's cool bro.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]