Lewis wants to bring back boxing

Three-time world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis expressed his disappointment in the direction of the culture of boxing is in Jamaica and believes he can bring back the glory days of what he described as a well-loved sport to our nation.

Last week the Lennox Lewis League of Champions Foundation staged its summer youth boxing camp at the Hopewell High School in Hopewell, Hanover. The seven days camp ran from July 7-14 with just under 100 children participating.

"The culture is flat right now. I'm not saying its dead... I'm here to rejuvenate it. It has always been in my mind to do so and now I'm seeing what needs to be done," said Lewis, who is excited about the second camp in Jamaica of the summer, which will be held August 20-25 at Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth.

Lewis is confident of having the Orchard Sports Complex that is being constructed in Hopewell, Hanover, which is to have a fully equipped boxing gym finished for summer camp next year. He outlined that it is a part of his vision to give a chance for a professional career to the youngster that come through the camp and want to pursue boxing.

Creating opportunity

"There are a few young fighters in Jamaica that work hard; train harder than a lot of people in other countries, but yet they don't have the opportunities. Some of them train and I can see they started out wrong and develop bad habits. So part of this camp is to know the right way from the last undisputed champion," said Lewis, who believes that developing them at a young age is the first step that will help to prepare them for the future.

"The course is to have boxing camps then create a Jamaican boxing team because after boxing at amateur for a while, they are going to want to go pro. So I'm going to develop a stage for them to fight called LOC Pro," said Lewis.

"LOC Pro is a promotional and management group that we want to promote and manage. We want to do it the right way. When I was growing up, I saw a lot of kids that did it the wrong way. I was fortunate enough to do it right, which is to have an extensive amateur career, go to the Olympics and then turn Pro," he added.