An already thin list of potential pay-per-view boxing draws shrunk by one more fighter last week with the announced retirement of World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.
Lewis' retirement further scrambles an already shaky PPV boxing schedule for Home Box Office's pay-per-view arm. The network was hoping to offer a potentially lucrative rematch between Lewis and Vitali Klitschko in April.
Instead, the network is hoping to fill a proposed April 17 or April 24 date with a potential Roy Jones Jr. bout against middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins or a rematch with light heavyweight contender Antonio Tarver, said the network.
Former junior middleweight champion and PPV darling Oscar De La Hoya will most likely fight on June 5, possibly against rival Fernando Vargas. Another potential April card produced by promoter Don King could feature several heavyweight championship bouts.
Lewis, arguably the biggest name in the heavyweight division, will hang up his gloves after a 14-year career in which he fought in some of the most lucrative PPV fights in history. Lewis's June 2002 fight with Mike Tyson ranks as the most successful PPV event of all time, generating more than $103 million in revenue.
Still, the unassuming Lewis never ascended to the PPV performance heights that Tyson and former champion Evander Holyfield achieved. In fact, Lewis's only big-ticket PPV events came against those two warriors.
"Lennox was the greatest heavyweight of his era and we were privileged to work with him on some of the biggest and most important fights in the sport's history," HBO senior vice president of sports operations Mark Taffet said.
