Ready to rumble: The day Lennox Lewis decided to gamble it all against Vitali Klitschko in Los Angeles

British boxing has not always been in such rude health as it is today. Some 103 years passed after the skinny legged Robert Prometheus Fitzsimmons lost the heavyweight world title to James J. Jeffries in 1899, before another Brit, Lennox Lewis, reclaimed a variation of the prize in far more unusual fashion.

In 1992 Riddick Bowe was the reigning champion but decided to toss his WBC belt into a bin after failing to negotiate terms with Lewis, who had been made mandatory challenger after knocking out Donovan Ruddock. “The WBC is wrong, and I will not be intimidated by them,” Bowe spat at a hastily assembled London press conference. “For as long as I am champion, I will not recognise or defend this dishonest belt.”

Since Lewis’s default elevation, there have been a further seven British world heavyweight champions: Michael Bentt, Herbie Hide, Frank Bruno, Henry Akinwande, David Haye, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. And yet Lewis — who held the world title three times, was lineal champion twice, and is the last heavyweight to hold the true undisputed title — remains the most storied. For now, at least.

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Joshua, who has already mounted six successful world title defences and holds three of the four major belts, has legitimate aspirations of becoming the next undisputed king of boxing’s blue-riband division. Meanwhile, Fury, who dethroned Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to become the lineal champion, will crown one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport should he beat Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles this weekend.

Intriguingly for another identikit American sports arena some 5,000 miles from home, this is not the first time a British boxer has headed to the City of Angels with the WBC’s iconic green strap at stake.

The 21,000 capacity Staples Center, home of the Lakers and Clippers, also staged Lewis’s final fight. Lewis was rapidly approaching his 38th birthday when he agreed to face the relatively unthreatening WBO Inter-Continental champion, Kirk Johnson. But with just ten days to go, Johnson was out, after tearing a chest muscle during a sparring session.

The solution was obvious — if not especially enticing for Lewis.

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“I think we should fight Vitali Klitschko,” Lewis’ trainer, the late Emanuel Steward, told The Dallas Morning News. “Why not? He was supposed to be on the undercard against someone else, plus he’s in training. It would eliminate a lot of problems for us.”

The risks were great, financially and otherwise. In agreeing to fight the huge Ukrainian at such short notice — without proper promotion as a bells and whistles American pay-per-view event with the cable network HBO — Lewis took an estimated hit of up to $8m. “I realise if the promotion had been cancelled I would not have been fighting again until November. I figured I might as well fight him now,” he gamely explained ahead of the fight.

As predicted, it was a gruelling contest. Klitschko headed into the fight with a similar record to Wilder’s, with all but one of his 32 wins coming by way of menacing knockout. He was seven years younger than Lewis and in considerably better shape.

The fight was almost over before it had truly begun, with Klitscho dominating the opening two rounds and rocking Lewis with a stiff jab and crunching overhand right. “He caught me with a good punch and I had to hold onto him,” Lewis later reflected. “But he was shocked because he could not then get loose to finish the job.”

Just one round later and everything had changed. Lewis landed a big right hand of his own which opened up a horrifically jagged cut under Klitschko’s left eyebrow, his face soon reduced to an unseemly red mask. Lewis viciously set to work aggravating the wound further and after another three rounds, referee Lou Moret stopped the contest on the ringside doctor’s orders. Klitschko would need no fewer than 60 stitches to fix the damage.

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Sitting in the the most expensive room at the Beverly Hills Hotel later that night, Steward admitted that it was Lewis’s worst performance since he became a world heavyweight champion. It would also be his last. Lewis announced his retirement at a press conference early the next year, expressing his wish to marry his partner, Violet Chang, and start a family.

“’I am sad to hear that Lennox Lewis decided to retire,’” commented Klitschko, still the top-ranked contender for the WBC title, the only title Lewis retained.

“But I respect him for his decision. Lennox was one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time and I am very proud and honoured to say that I was able to fight him. Lennox was a credit to the sport for many, many years and his presence will be missed.”

Klitschko joined Lewis in retirement in 2013 and, although there has been much giddy talk of a rematch in the years since, both men appear unlikely to return to the sport. Instead they have been replaced by a new generation, with Fury, who defeated Vitali’s brother Wladimir to write his own name into heavyweight history, hoping to follow in his compatriot’s footsteps with another famous win in Los Angeles this weekend.

And from his home in Canada, Lewis this week tipped Fury to outbox his rival to win the belt that become synonymous with his 41—2—1 career.

“It will be one of the great comebacks if Fury wins,” Lewis said. “I see him as more of the boxer. He can frustrate you, especially when you can’t hit him. Deontay hasn’t been against a guy that can move as well as he can. If it’s a distance fight, it’s Tyson Fury. If it’s a short fight, it’s definitely Deontay, because of his power.

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“I think Fury can employ the same tactics as against [Wladimir] Klitschko. It’s always frustrating fighting a guy who is taking the mickey out of you. And he’s that type of boxer, treating it like a game. Deontay doesn’t have that much experience, they’re both in that learning curve.”