Guyana Chronicle
March 29, 2001

`...with hard work and training, anything is possible. You too can be somebody like me some day.'

-- message to young Guyanese boxers
From Bina Mahabir in New York
ANDREW `Six Head' Lewis believes in "succeeding in life."

"It is not good to be a trickster or to be a cheater; you end up being a loser in life", he says, reiterating, "I am the same person all the time, trying to live a straight life".

`Six Head', in a recent interview, said though he is basically the same person he was before he won the world boxing title last month, life has changed for him.

"People are now focusing on you. You have to be on your best behaviour at all times."

He does not want to do anything that will affect his career as a boxer.

Now residing in Canarsie, Brooklyn, he dreams of going back to his homeland and "open my own boxing camp for our young boxers".

He wants to be Guyana's best trainer - a feat not hard for him to achieve, considering his determination and perseverance to succeed in life.

And he has an important message for Guyanese young boxers: "train hard and dedicate yourselves."

"Boxing too involves a lot of sacrifices, but with hard work and training, anything is possible. You too can be somebody like me some day. Strive to be a world champion like me - `Six Head'.

`Six Head', in an electrifying performance, knocked out three-times World Boxing Association (WBA) Welterweight Champion, American James Page in one minute 13 seconds into the seventh round of the world championship bout in Las Vegas last month to claim the vacant WBA crown.

He landed a crushing right to his opponent's temple, a blow that caused the American boxer to hop once before he hit the canvas.

The 30-year-old created history for his homeland at the jam-packed MGM Grand Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas on February 17, when he captured the coveted spot of becoming the first Guyanese to win a world boxing title.

`Six Head', who hails from Albouystown, Georgetown, is also the first Caribbean national to win a title fight in 2001.

Like a true son of the soil, the Guyanese fighter made his grand appearance in the ring with the Guyana flag draped proudly around him, while the country's National Anthem played soothingly in the background.

The inspiring words of the anthem majestically floated in the atmosphere to create a unique moment that filled the hearts of Guyanese from all walks of life, those at home and abroad, with pride, honour, patriotism and oneness.

As he was doing his boxing gig in the ring to the loud cheering of the excited crowd, Lewis exuded a confidence in himself that is the hallmark of his success.

In the recent interview, the power-punching southpaw Guyanese, said he "told them to play my country's National Anthem because I am a Guyanese citizen and I must respect my country. I cannot forget where I have come from."

The quiet, overnight boxing celebrity, who is based in the U.S., was the crowd favourite at the MGM Grand. He had the mostly American spectators rooting for him, while many of his Guyanese fans from Miami, Atlanta and New York flew in to Las Vegas to witness the fight.

Guyana's Minister of Sports, Youth and Culture, Ms Gail Teixeira, headed Guyana's entourage to the Page-Lewis fight. Others in the team were Major Francis Abraham, Aide de Camp to President Bharrat Jagdeo, Mr K.D. Persaud, President of the Guyana Boxing Association and others.

Many overseas-based Guyanese were glued to their TV sets that Saturday night to

watch this Guyanese son trounce his opponent in the 12-round title bout. The highly publicised fight was televised by the HBO channel in the U.S.

Lewis, with a hand-reach of 72 inches, and weighing about 147 pounds, was confident that he was going to win the world title from Page.

Describing himself as a "complete package, with all the skills in boxing", he confidently said, "I knew that I was going to beat him. I have confidence in myself. I am a born warrior."

Then somewhat seriously, he said he is also a very dedicated fighter who does not take boxing or a match lightly. He trained very hard, he said, because what you put out in the gym will be a reflection of your performance in ring, so at all times, "I try to do my best in the gym as well".

Comparing boxing to business, he said he does not want anybody to win a round when he is fighting. "I want to dominate a fight."

Reliving those precious moments in Las Vegas just before his overwhelming victory, he said, "I knocked down James Page in the second round. Every round I win...I dominated every single round."

"When I knocked him out in the seventh round, Page fell flat. The referee counted from one to ten. When he got up, he was still staggering."

GLORIOUS FEELING

So, how does it feel to be a world boxing champion?

"It's a glorious feeling. It is a dream come through. Guyana is now on the world map".

And on a more sober note he continued, "The welterweight is one of the hardest fighting divisions and we have never won anything like this before." So it is a huge success for the country, he said.

Success at that level in boxing has been an elusive feat for a handful of Guyanese boxers until today.

The young Guyanese fighter admitted that he "leaked tears of joy after the fight".

He was just a bit nervous before the fight and could not "wait for the night to come and get it over with", he revealed. Although he hardly slept a wink the night after the title bout, he is happy that it is all over with now.

At the moment, he has an impressive unbeaten record of a total of 21-0 with 20 knockouts.

The latest welterweight champion recalled that three years ago he was Page's

sparring partner in a camp at Ohio, "but I sparred with him for only three days".

"I beat him up", he said triumphantly.

After he out-sparred Page, Lewis was thanked for his services and was asked to leave the camp by boxing promoter Don King.

But he said he "thought that I will beat this guy up one day".

At that time, the American boxer was fighting for the WBA welterweight title and the determined Lewis silently vowed, "I will win it from him one day".

The Page-Lewis purse was evenly split between the boxers, thus each came away US$200,000 richer.

And while the American lost his belt to the Guyanese, Guyana's stature in the boxing world has skyrocketed.

Born in a family of professional boxers, his late father Sammy Marcus no exception, the young boy Andrew took to the sport of boxing at a very tender age. He and his brothers, with gloves and all, "will box in the streets of

Albouystown", he recalled.

These 'pop matches' attracted quite a number of onlookers who "will surround us while we box each other away".

Travelling through memory lane, he reminisced that he was nicknamed `Six Head' at the very tender age of seven years.

At that age, Lewis was already a junior boxer, competing in many boxing matches with boxers from his own age group. During one such competition, the little Andrew hit his young opponent in the eye and after some time the "lil" fellow complained that he was seeing "six head", he related.

BEST NICKNAME IN THE WORLD

And `Six Head' it is. Does he like his nickname?

"`Six Head' is the world's favourite name. It is the best nickname in the world right now."

Growing up in Albouystown, life was not easy, "but I am proud of what I have become (though) I came from the ghetto".

Recounting the reputation that people living in the ghetto are faced with, not excluding himself, `Six Head' noted that others do talk bad about those in the ghetto. But he noted, "you see what people from the ghetto could do?"

"It takes a person from the ghetto to put Guyana on the world map."

He is humbly appealing to people to desist from such negative behaviour, as it will get us nowhere. He called on all to stop "talking bad about the people from the ghetto".

The Sagittarius-born Guyanese boxer believes there is good and bad in everybody and that we have to respect both the good and the bad in people.

Lewis' mother, Evan Eversley and her other five children are all living in Guyana.

If there was one person he would have liked to be with him in Las Vegas that

Saturday night, it was his dear mother. She could not have come, he said, because of an immigration matter.

However, like thousands of Guyanese across the country who viewed the highly televised fight in the comfort of their homes, so too his mother had to be satisfied with watching her son trash his opponent via the television.

President Jagdeo had joined Lewis' mother in his hometown to watch the boxing match, along with a large number of eager fans, all of whom shared the joy in the Guyanese boxer's victory.

`Six Head', who attended the Carmichael High School, said his mother was the driving force and inspiration behind his huge success and he has a lot to thank her for.

Not too drunk with the sweet wine of victory, he telephoned her the next morning.

"She was so very happy that I have made it so far. She said that everybody was so happy for me when I won the title".

She related to him that President Jagdeo had watched the fight on TV with her in Albouystown.

GRATEFUL TO THE PRESIDENT

He is very grateful for what the President has done for him.

"I want to thank the President for all the support he has given me and for everything else that he has done for me." The President declared the Monday after the fight a national holiday in Six Head's honour and has instructed that the State provide him with a house and land.

Lewis fondly recalled that he could not have tricked his mother into believing that he went to the gym without actually training on a particular day, because she "will check my bag and make sure that the clothes (boxing gear) are wet".

That confirmed the fact that he went to the gym and did train, he boyishly grinned.

And if the clothes were not wet, then what?

Oh, she scolded him and made him understand the importance of training if he wanted to become a world boxing champion. Now, he said, he understood from where she was coming.

Indeed, winning a world boxing title takes more than training -- it calls for dedication, resilience, commitment, perseverance and to stay focussed, stated the boxer.

Lewis, the proud holder of two belts, the North American and the WBA welterweight, was Guyana's junior welterweight champion for about one-and-a-half years before he came to the United States in 1996, where he trained for a month and went back home.

He won the welterweight title from Terrence Ali, another outstanding Guyanese boxer. However, in 1997, he travelled to the U.S. for three times with a six-month multiple visa and with the help of the influential Don King, had it extended to a four-year visa on his last trip here. This extension paved the way for him to stay and train here, an arrangement that he liked.

"I wanted to stay here and to train here. This helps me to stay more focussed and to put out my best out there", rather than going to Guyana and coming back here all the time.

"I always wanted to come to the United States to fight."

"I just come to the U.S. to just polish myself off. I was born with the skills (boxing)."

And he did not forget those who gave him a helping hand in his times of need. He thanked Mr Ali and Mr. Jimmy Ramnarine for helping him obtain visas at the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, so that his dream of fighting for a world title bout in the U.S. became a reality.

His main reason for leaving Guyana was "not getting fights" down there. And coupled with that, "there is a lack of facilities" there.

In the U.S., the prospects are quite different, there are fairly enough fights and "the facilities are the best here".

Lewis, who idolises boxing greats like Muhammad Ali and "Sugar Ray" Leonard, is in training at the Fernwood Resort in the Pocono Mountain in Pennsylvania. His immediate goal is to "train more hard to defend my belt".

He will be defending his title against another American boxer Larry Marks, for the first time on April 28 at the Hammerstein Ball Room, opposite Madison Square Gardens in New York, but he discreetly declined to disclose the purse.

His promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, is promoting him in New York because of the large concentration of Guyanese and Caribbean migrants who reside in the area. He is testing the waters to see how the large West Indian community here will respond to the match and support the Guyanese boxer.

"I know I will win the fight because I am training very hard for it and I take my fights very seriously. I do not take any boxer or fight for granted."

A showdown between `Six Head' and Shane Mosley, holder of the World Boxing

Council (WBC) belt is billed for later this year or next year, a match that promises to be the Guyanese boxer's most lucrative battle.

How would he like to go back home and fight for a world championship match in Guyana?

"That will be great", he responded with a broad grin.

When asked if he plans to get married soon, he evasively answered, "You never know."

Though Lewis is anxious to visit his homeland and is looking forward to the red carpet welcome awaiting him, it is not possible for him to travel at the moment, but he is trying to correct his immigration problem.

He sent best wishes to President Jagdeo and wished all Guyanese the very best in life.

He ended with a call for people to respect the folks from the ghetto as everybody should be respected, regardless of where they come from.

"We should respect everybody."