'Sparks in the Park'
-Lewis staying clear of milk shakes
Stabroek News
April 2, 2007
Guyana's first world boxing champion Andrew `Sixhead' Lewis has been once bitten and is now twice shy. Leading up to Saturday's national title fight against junior middleweight champion `Deadly' Denny Dalton, Lewis has declared zero tolerance on dairy products especially "milkshakes". "I'm just being careful this time around and watching what I eat. You can bet that I wouldn't be having any milkshakes before this fight," Lewis said yesterday.
Last April, watched by a full house at the National Park, Lewis survived a fourth round knock down and was leading on points when, in a bizarre turn in events he quit in the seventh round to hand the national junior middleweight title to Dalton. Lewis later explained that he was in dire need of using the toilet, hence his decision to quit. The urge to use the toilet was as a result of him devouring a milkshake earlier in the day.
"That was no excuse but exactly what happened. I am not going to take any chances this time around," the former WBA welterweight champion said. Saturday's fight which will also be staged at the National Park is being aptly dubbed "The Conclusion" and will be the third time that Lewis and Dalton will match gloves.
The first fight between the two was held on October 15, 2005 in a packed Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and dubbed `Doomsday Battle'.
A clash of heads in the fourth round resulted in gash over Lewis' eye forcing a technical draw. The `Albouystown Cyclone', as the former world champion is also known, was slightly ahead on points at the time of the stoppage. The return fight was labeled "Unfinished Business" and staged last April.
"This time it will be all different. In both fights I was showing that I was the professional and Dalton was the amateur. This time I will be doing the same but the results will be different. I don't want to kill him, I'll just hurt him real bad," Lewis predicted. The former world champion is being trained by Lennox Daniels at the gym in Albouystown that bears his name. "I know I have a point to prove and plan doing just that." However, Lewis said that he will not allow the crowd to dictate the fight.
On the two previous occasions Dalton seemed to have the lion's share of the roar the crowd made when the two fighters came into the ring. Lewis claimed that the crowd's reaction had an influence on his modus operandi then. "The crowd will not get into this.
I'll be celebration only on the man in front of me." Following unsuccessful attempts by Patrick Ford, Lennox Blackmoore, Anthony `The Pearl Andrews, Andrew Murray and Wayne Harris, Lewis became Guyana's first world champion in February 2001 after stopping James Page in the seventh round. The victory earned him the vacant WBA welterweight title and sparked unprecedented celebrations in his homeland. President Bharrat Jagdeo declared a national holiday and presented land, $5M and duty free concession to the champion.