Stabroek News
May 27, 2001

Behind every successful man there is a good woman and it's no different with Guyana's world welterweight boxing champion Andrew 'Sixhead' Lewis, because his fiancee, Georgia Reid is a continued tower of strength for him.

"I give him a lot of support. We pray together when he is training and before every fight. I always tell him he can do it whenever he asks," said Reid in her thick Jamaican accent.

The 25-year-old graciously agreed to be interviewed by Stabroek News last Tuesday evening at Le Meridien Pegasus, where she is staying with the world champion.

Dressed in a short coloured dress and white sneakers the bouncy, diminutive Reid told of her role in Lewis's life, their relationship and how they met.

Born in Jamaica, Reid migrated to the United States four years ago and has been living in New York since then.

And while it was not love at first sight for her and Lewis, the relationship did move rapidly as six months after they officially met they were living together.

With a secret smile on her face, Reid recalled that as soon as she moved to the US she got a job at a clothing store and she would see Lewis from time to time in the store.

"Him use to come in the store and just look. Him never use to buy anything so we used to cuss him out and ask him why him always coming in the store and not buying anything," Reid recalled.

She said she began chatting with him after a Guyanese girl told her that he was a nice person and not to treat him "bad".

Getting to the juicy part, Reid, sitting up straight in her chair with a dreamy expression on her face, recalled that one morning she was taking her cousin to school and while passing her place of employment she saw Lewis peering into the store. She said she knew right away he was looking for her, so she approached him and he asked her if he could he accompany her to the school which he did.

"From then we became good friends and things just happened. At first I could not understand a word him said and him could not understand what I said too because I use my slang and him use him slang," Reid said.

But love works miracles because six months later they were living together.

What is it like living with Lewis?

"I can't complain. He is a very funny person and just keeps you happy," Reid responded.

She said that before becoming the champion Lewis would tell her: "Georgia, ah going to win a world championship and go home to Guyana and get a big motorcade and all that. I used to tell him you could do it, baby," the young woman said.

She said that Lewis is very proud of his country and always talks about Guyana.

She said that leading up to his fights, he becomes very tense and one had to know how to deal with him. She said that he needed a lot of encouragement and he also needed to be left alone at times.

Reid is a follower of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church and she said she prays a lot for Lewis. When he is in camp, he would call her on the telephone and they would pray together.

Reid was not present at the fight when Lewis made history, as she said, she would not have been able to take all the excitement. "I would have been too nervous so I stayed home. But I watched it on television and I taped it. I was so nervous that went to the bathroom a lot just to try to cope with my nervousness," she said.

When he won she was so happy that she "jumped up and down. But I know he was going to win and I am confident that he would be the holder of all three belts," Reid said. She said that her sister in Jamaica told her that the local television station in that country showed Lewis's fight.

Reid is the mother of Lewis's seven-month-old son and Lewis has already indicated that his son would be come a boxer since on introducing him to Guyana, he gave his name as Andrew 'Five Head' Lewis.

What does Reid think about this?

"If that is it then that is it," she said. Even though she does not really like the idea she has resigned herself to the fact that there is nothing she could do if her son really wants to be a boxer like his father. Reid said that she would get visions and in one of these Lewis's dead father, whom she had never met, told her to tell Lewis to care his grandson as he would be a great boxer one day. Because of this, Reid feels that it has already been written that her son would become a boxer.

What does she think about Guyana?

"It is such a lovely place, I love it. The people are nice the food is good," she said. Reid was also overwhelmed by the welcome Lewis received on his return home.

The only strange thing to Reid was that she had never seen what she called "black water". But she promised to take a dip before she returns home. She said Lewis's family had treated her "very nice" especially his brothers and his mother.

She is enjoying the hectic schedule in Guyana even though she has to return to her job at a computer cafe the day after she returns home.

Reid is not bothered by the fact that Lewis is now a international star and might attract members of the female sex in droves. "Is me him have to come home to in the night. Once you know you treat your man right then you have nothing to worry about," Reid said.

She loves children and gets along with Lewis's daughters whom he shared with a Guyanese woman before migrating. She has no problem with them migrating the US to live with their father.

Reid and Lewis are hoping to tie the knot some time next year.