Fight:3776

Steve Garber later claimed when interviewed for a book that “I was well up for it. I was looking for an edge, so I hit him before the bell. Lewis still talks about how angry it made him. It was all over in 12 seconds including the count. I’ve been silly twice in my life. The first time I ended up in prison. The second time was when I hit Lewis before the bell” (Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics by William Donaldson). Up until a couple of years ago, this was the only fight of Lennox Lewis' pro career that was thought to have not been recorded. Then the ringside cameraman Eric Guy released a clip of footage of the fight. He would only sell the full fight footage for a few hundred pounds, but uploaded a clip of the fight for free on YouTube. Guy has since passed away so the full fight footage won't ever see the light of day as well as thousands of hours of footage recorded by Guy, which includes amateur bouts of the likes of David Haye, Audley Harrison, and many future world champions. The short footage shows that Garber didn't in fact hit Lewis before the bell, but Garber and Lewis did get into each other's faces during the referee’s instructions, and Lewis then pushed him after it seems Garber said something he didn't like. The fight also didn't end in 12 seconds. It ended 90 seconds into the contest.