They must fit me like a glove
For Lennox Lewis, driving a Bentley brings an unusual bonus. “I don’t get stopped so often by the police in the Bentley,” he says. “I think it is because it is a more stately type of car.”
In his other cars he’s less lucky. “For some reason I often get stopped by the police, especially near the Blackwall tunnel (east London). I suppose they think I am not able to afford the car — that it must be stolen. I just point to the personalised numberplates, then they accept I am the owner and wave me on with a laugh.”
It seems astonishing that anyone would need the help of a personalised plate to recognise Lewis, Britain’s only undisputed heavyweight champion for more than a century. Born in West Ham in 1965, Lennox Claudius Lewis moved to Kitchener in Ontario, Canada, to be with his mother Violet when he was 12. They had moved together to Canada earlier but Violet had sent her son back to Britain after six months and five years of separation followed.
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Once in Ontario Lewis started boxing for Kitchener Police Club and went on to win an Olympic gold for Canada at Seoul in 1988. By the time he turned professional in 1989 he had decided to take up his British citizenship and in 1999, after signing a £33m deal to fight the WBA and IBF title holder Evander Holyfield, he became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Perhaps it is due to the constant jibes about his true nationality that Lewis chooses to drive quintessentially British cars. Then again, it might just be because “nothing sings as perfectly as an Aston Martin”.
Lewis first discovered Aston Martins at an Earls Court motor show in the mid-1990s. As soon as he and his brother slid into the classy interior of a Virage, Lewis was hooked. He bought it straight away.
“I’ve always liked the look of Astons but when you get into one, you find they also have a great feel,” he says. “And then there is the shape, the power and the sound. Just hearing the engine is so great. I have tried out other sports cars — including Ferraris, which also have a lovely sound — but to me nothing else comes close. This is before even thinking of the performance and the sheer weight of the car, which I love.”
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Today, he drives an Aston Martin V8 Coupé, which nicely complements his Bentley Azure Convertible. “I bought the Bentley because it’s sporty,” says Lewis. “I mean it’s not the type of Bentley that old people drive. I think it fits my personality. The only problem is that as soon as I start driving it, I want to let the top down and enjoy the air whistling by me, which isn’t much good in the English climate.”
Since his shock retirement in February, Lewis spends much of his time in New York where his fiancée Violet Chang lives and where he drives a Range Rover. Although he has tried the new Bentley Continental in America he hasn’t yet been tempted to buy one, even if he does confess to missing what he calls his “little toys” when he is away from Britain.
Part of the reason for his refusal to be get back in the ring despite offers of £20m is the fact that Lewis now has a young family. In June Chang gave birth to a son, Landon, and despite the pressures of fatherhood Lewis says that being away from the ring allows him time to ponder the more homely aspects of life. Like deciding what car to drive of an afternoon.
“If I am going to the BBC at Shepherd’s Bush or a meeting somewhere, I take the Aston. If it is a Leicester Square premiere, I take the Bentley,” he says. “It is more impressive. I decide which car to take just like I decide what watch to have on my wrist or which clothes to wear. It has to fit the occasion.
“If I am in a suit or a tux it is definitely the Bentley. The Range Rover is for a T-shirt, jeans and trainers and the Aston goes with more high-fashion casual clothes.”
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Lewis has always liked glamour and power in his cars. He was taught to drive by his first trainer, Arnie Boehm, in Ontario, who also taught him how to rollerskate. He bought his first car at 18, an exciting Pontiac Firebird, and followed that with another iconic sports car, a Chevrolet Camaro.
Lewis’s characterisation of his driving style is at first slightly scary: “I use the same qualities for driving as I did for boxing well.
“I am a great driver. I drive a lot better than most people, especially in the city. I am a decision taker, with good vision, and I have tremendous judgment. This is not boasting — this is what I needed to be the world champion.”
Perhaps fortunately for other more volatile drivers, however, that’s as far as boxing influences his driving. “I try to avoid getting into arguments on the road. I don’t even look at people if they are shouting at me,” says the 6ft 5in Lewis. “But if I have to, I do get out of the car, then they see my size and see that it doesn’t make any sense to get upset. They know they are wasting their time.”
ON HIS CD CHANGER
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I like everything — rap, reggae, R’n’B and, of course, jazz. My favourite artists when driving are Sissel and 50 Cent.