Lewis promises palate pleaser against Eastman

Aug 31, 2008 Sports

Lewis pumps up the weights during a training session.

By Michael Benjamin

Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis has promised that he will not consume any milk shakes as in the Denny Dalton battle. In fact he plans to be in the best shape of his life, since a victory against Howard ‘The Battersea Bomber’ Eastman demands no less.

McNeal Enterprise, in collaboration with Stanford Solomon has managed to serve up a palate pleaser that has already set tongues wagging.

In approximately four weeks Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis and Howard “The Battersea Bomber” Eastman will oppose each other at the National Stadium, Providence EBD, and the former World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champ says he is leaving nothing to chance as he whips himself into shape at the gym built in his honour, in Albouystown.

While Eastman is hard at work in Berbice we caught up with Lewis, at the Andrew Lewis Boxing Gym engaged in heavy bag work, carefully constructing combinations, under the hawk eyes of his coach, Lennox Daniels. His very demeanor and application is indicative of someone whose thoughts are riveted solely on a victory.

Will it be by decision or a knockout? Lewis stops short of a prediction. “Every fighter wants to win by knockout and while I have such ambitions, I prefer to just say that at the end of the fight I will prevail,” said the former world champion.

His coach Lennox Daniels chips in, “Over the past five weeks Lewis has been involved in a structured and rigorous weight lifting programme.”

And indeed Lewis, swathed in beads of perspiration, huffed and puffed as he engaged in a session of dead lifts and curls.

“This mode of preparation is meant to strengthen Lewis’ muscles so that he (Lewis) would be prepared for whatever salvoes Howard Eastman launches,” intimates Daniels.

Sparring sessions are a vital component of a boxer’s preparation but it seems as though there is a paucity of sparring partners which could definitely have a negative impact on the former champ’s preparation as he prepares for what is undoubtedly an extremely important fight of his career.

To date Lewis has had 22 rounds of sparring but is currently undergoing severe challenges in procuring reliable sparring partners to take him to the end of his training sessions.

“I am running out of sparring partners,” he lamented. The two boxers providing such services are Winston Pompey and Leon Moore.

Undoubtedly they are good boxers in their own right but they are hardly capable of providing the quality sparring sessions needed by Lewis in preparation for someone of Eastman’s calibre.
Finally, in desperation, Lewis turned to Dalton for additional sparring.

These two had had three epic encounters winning one apiece while the other ended in a no contest because of an accidental head butt that left the former champ incapacitated.

Dalton bluntly refused to spar with Lewis, citing the possibility of a fourth encounter. As such, he is not too keen to expose his armory prematurely.

Lewis has scoffed at Dalton’s ramblings saying that his sights are now set on regaining the world title and that Dalton is not a part of his immediate plans.

It is approximately 12 months since Lewis last entered the ring. The pundits have suggested ring rust-a term used to describe a boxer’s inactiveness.

Quizzed on his activities during that period Lewis adopted a philosophical perspective. “Boxing is both physical as well as mental. I have visited the gym periodically because I needed the break.”

The former world champion dares to dream once again. “When I am through with Eastman I’ll be looking to Odinga to organize a few more fights and then I am optimistic of fighting for another world title,” he said.

While Lewis nurtures such hopes, even his staunchest fans are pessimistic that he can repeat his world title accomplishment. The word around is that Lewis has ‘dissed’ Don King who in turn had delivered scathing remarks that spell doom for Lewis.

“I hadn’t a legal document that tied me to King,” Lewis retorted, when reminded of that episode. He admitted that he did receive a sizeable stipend from King but chose to sign a legal document with Bob Arum because his (Arum’s) bid was more reasonable than that offered by King.

Lewis said that King’s anger and his subsequent disparaging remarks stemmed from his disappointment that he (Lewis) chose not to sign up with him. “Don felt I was disloyal but in this business you have to make the wisest decisions,” the former champ disclosed.

He said that after some introspection he has decided that it is best to make peace with Don King and hopes that Odinga may be able to act as mediator to resolve their differences. “Odinga has connections and I will try to patch up things with King through Odinga,” Lewis said.

However, Odinga has a different take on the issue. “Don King cannot hamper Sixhead,” he blurted. Odinga further explained that the boxing world does not revolve around King alone and he (Odinga), not Don King, is now in charge of Lewis’ boxing affairs.

An accident on the East Coast Demerara had left Odinga somewhat incapacitated and several previous attempts to promote fights have been aborted. He has now teamed up with Solomon to promote the Lewis/Eastman fight.

Four other fights are slated for the November 27 card at the National Stadium. Lumumba revealed that Rawle Frank has agreed in principle to oppose Winston Pompey on the under-card.

Lumumba said that he would have liked to see Dalton in action against Frank but he (Dalton) was asking for $700,000, a sum Odinga feels is prohibitive.

“Maybe Eastman damaged the kid more than we believed and the punches probably affected his equilibrium,” Odinga blurted out.

Lennox “Pretty Boy” Allen has recently returned from a sojourn in the USA where he was engaged in sparring sessions with Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins.

Odinga said that he attempted to have Allen fight on the card but he has demanded a ridiculously exorbitant purse.

“These fighters must look at the broader picture and not the narrow view that it’s all about money,” a clearly agitated Odinga declared. As such he said that his focus is primarily on Lewis’ development.

Questioned of future plans for Lewis, Lumumba responded, “I prefer to wait until this fight is through before I decide on my next move.”