Lewis wins unanimous decision

"I won the fight," Holyfield shouted shortly after the final bell. But the three judges clearly favored Lewis.

The 34-year-old Lewis wasn't nearly as impressive as he was in the first fight, but he was still too big for Holyfield, who will turn 37 next Friday.

The first half of the fight was rather dull. Then Holyfield opened the second half by having a big round in the seventh, the best three minutes of the match.

Lewis, however, wouldn't let Holyfield take control.

The British fans in the crowd roared when the decision was announced and broke into song. There were also a lot of boos.

Judge Chuck Giampa scored it 116-112, Bill Graham had 117-111, and Jerry Roth 115-113 for Lewis, who added the WBA and IBF titles to the WBC belt he already held.

The AP scored it 116-113 for Lewis.

"It was little tougher than the first fight," Lewis said.

Most observers felt Lewis easily won the first match March 13 in Madison Square Garden, but it was scored a majority draw, which led to a grand jury investigation and several hearings.

In March, Lewis landed 348 punches to 134 for Holyfield, according to a CompuBox punch analysis.

On Saturday night, before an estimated 17,000 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center, Lewis was credited with landing 195 punches to 137 for Holyfield.

"Because I won the first time, I'm more confident and I'll take more chances," Lewis said before the fight.

But he didn't.

"We're both champions and we've got to take it to each other," Holyfield had said.

But many rounds packed little action.

The 6-foot-5 Lewis scored with several jabs but his best punch was a right uppercut. The 6-2 1/2 Holyfield was able to get inside several times, but Lewis managed to tie him up most of the time.

In the seventh round, the 242-pound Lewis landed several rights and lefts to the head early. At 1:07 of the round, Holyfield hurt Lewis with a thunderous left hook to the head. Lewis backed off and Holyfield bounced to the attack. He hurt Lewis with a right to the head and then hurt him with a left-right. They exchanged head punches in the final 30 seconds.

Holyfield was unable to take control, however, and Lewis seemed to have the best of the eighth and ninth rounds with jabs and uppercuts.

The action tailed off in the last three rounds of the fight.

"Decisions are decisions," Holyfield said. "Everyone is disappointed, but life is life. I was just fighting. The judges make the decisions."

"I couldn't let my fans down," said the new, undisputed champion from Britain. "I couldn't let myself down because this was my dream."

Lewis became the first heavyweight to hold all three titles since Riddick Bowe took them from Holyfield on a 12-round decision in Las Vegas on Nov. 13, 1992. Holyfield had won the undisputed title by knocking out James "Buster" Douglas in the third round on Oct. 25, 1990.

Before the fight, Lewis had predicted it would be Holyfield's last hurrah.

It remains to be seen whether Holyfield, one of boxing's true warriors, will quit after his fourth defeat against 36 victories and a draw. He has scored 25 knockouts.

Lewis is 35-1-1 with 27 knockouts.

The purse for each fighter was $15 million for their pay-per-view rematch.

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