Lennox Lewis Reveals Shocking Truth About His History With Mike Tyson

Lennox Lewis has known Mike Tyson for a very long time, but the former heavyweight champion recently admitted that he used to be baffled by the sudden change in his rival’s behavior.

During his active years in the sport, Tyson was figured out by only a few world-class fighters. One of them was Lewis. In a recent appearance on “ Good Morning Britain” via The Sun, the boxing legend revealed that despite his ugly rivalry with the Brooklyn native in the past, the young “Iron Mike” was a humble and nice person.

“Mike Tyson is a great guy in one sense,” Lewis revealed. “I knew him when he was younger. I went up to spar with him after the junior world championship where I won a gold medal and his team was saying I didn’t box the best guy.”

“Me and my trainer at the time, Arnie Beam, drove to Catskills and met him [Tyson], he continued. “He took me to his room, he was nice, we looked at lots of old films and he was more into boxing at the time that I was. He knew all the old guys and all the different techniques of boxing.”

In 2002, Lewis stopped Tyson in a one-sided boxing match. At the time, “The Baddest Man on the Planet” was still a beast inside the ring but not as dangerous as he was in previous years.

Though the fight turned out to be entertaining, it was the bad blood between the two that highlighted the epic clash.

According to Lewis, the Tyson he fought was the “same guy” he met several years ago. However, the man who was acting up on him prior to the fight was someone else.

“So I grew (up) to really like and know him [Tyson] when I was an amateur, but then when he went into his pro career, I never really knew why he was acting like that,” the 55-year-old recalled. “Then we fought and he was just the same guy I met when we were 14 or 15.”

Tyson and Lewis may have appeared to be bitter rivals inside the ring, but the pair became friends over time. In fact, the latter even revealed what the American slugger texted him en route to the same show where he previously appeared on.

During his appearance on the show, Tyson seemed tired and sleepy for the most part of the interview and he advised Lewis to do his best to stay awake.

“He actually sent me a text and said ‘are you going on Piers’ [Morgan] show?’ I said ‘yes’ and he said ‘that guy is boring’ you’ll have to drink some Marley Coffee,” he stated. “So I said ‘OK’, I’m going to drink some Marley coffee for you."