There were some bumps in the heavyweight champion's earlier trips to Madison Square Garden, two bouts covering 22 rounds. Then, in a title bout against Evander Holyfield that almost everybody thought he won, Lewis had to settle for a draw on March 13, 1999. On Saturday night, Lewis will defend his title against unbeaten Michael Grant. Perhaps Steward just wanted to light a fire under the champion. Lewis, however, has sounded motivated, something he hasn't appeared to be in some past fights.
Grant calls the odds irrelevant.
However, he rallied to knock down Golota in the 10th round and win when Golota quit. He's strong and undefeated, but he doesn't have the one-punch knockout power of Lennox. Lewis stopped Golota in the first round of a title defense Oct. 4, 1997. Grant's best chance of becoming the 18th unbeaten challenger to become heavyweight champion appears to be taking the fight into the trenches. I'm going to jump on him.