Lennox Lewis easily muscled away the giant challenge of Michael Grant to retain his world heavyweight titles with seven seconds remaining of round two at Madison Square Garden. Grant was decked three times, the final knockdown being for the full count from referee Arthur Mercante Jnr, in addition to taking a standing count in a dramatic opening round of boxing's heaviest ever title fight. For Grant, the fight simply came too early, but no one could doubt the American's courage in trying manfully to pull himself back into a contest which rapidly became a rout.
But Grant, 27, ran into Lewis on a night when the super cool champion was in a no nonsense mood to get the business finished. It was Lewis' quickest title win since blowing away Andrew Galota inside a round in Atlantic City in October, 1997.
