Johnny Lewis (boxing trainer)

In January 1986, Lewis took several of his fighters including Jeff Fenech to Parklea Prison to spar inmates in makeshift rings, the point of which was to demonstrate the outcomes of poor behaviour for his fighters and an appropriate outlet of aggression for the prisoners.[14]

Brian Moore started the Young Offenders Program in the Newtown Police Boys Club.[15] Lewis would join this partnership by continuing to take boxers to prisons across New South Wales.[5] As the program developed it became more theoretical, boxers would spar less and instead hand out Big League Magazines and videos of boxing matches.[16]

The professional career of Lewis catalysed due to the rapid rise of Jeff Fenech.[7] This in turn caused Jeff Harding to relocate from Grafton to train under him and Russian World Amateur Champion Kostya Tszyu to turn professional under Lewis’ tutelage.[17][18] These accreditations prompted several fighters to also be trained by Lewis.[5][2]

American Virgil Hill moved to Australia to train at Newtown in an attempt to regain his world light-heavyweight title.[19] In 1992 was Hill's third fight under Lewis, in which he won a unanimous decision against Frank Tate to gain the vacant WBA light heavyweight title.[20] This was a short-term partnership however as Hill returned to the United States after the victory.[5][21]

In 1986, Joe Bugner came out of retirement for one last campaign, aiming to fight heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.[5] In moving to Australia, Bugner went on a three-fight win streak before stopped in the eighth round by Frank Bruno.[22] Bugner had domestic success after his partnership with Lewis, winning the Australian Heavyweight title.[23]

At the peak of Bugner's comeback, he won a unanimous decision against Greg Page in Sydney.[24] On this card, Johnny Lewis had Jeff Harding finish Johnny Tapau Sr in the second round and Peter Mitrevski winning a decision over Charlie Brown.[5]

Following the 1992 Olympics, Justin Roswell, a promising Australian amateur turned professional under Lewis, winning the WBO intercontinental lightweight championship.[25] Rowsell had a more acclaimed amateur career however, with a bronze medal at the 1991 Amateur Boxing World Championships, a gold medal at the Canada Cup and a Commonwealth games silver medal.[26]

In his training with Lewis, Gairy St. Clair won the International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organization World Super Featherweight Title in South Africa,[27][28] winning a unanimous decision 116–112, 115–113, 115–114 over Cassius Baloyi.[29] Lewis regarded St Clair as not only one of the best movers he'd trained but seen.[5]

Billy Dib would win his first world title, the IBO Super-featherweight championship in 2008 against Zolani Marali after switching trainers to have Lewis in his corner.[10] Whilst a brief training partnership, Dib became Johnny Lewis’ sixth World Title holder.[30]

Jeff Malcolm was managed by New South Wales Blues and Australian Kangaroos Rugby League representative Tommy Raudonikis whilst being trained by Johnny Lewis.[5] Lewis trained Malcolm for sixteen years, holding the Australian Super Lightweight Title before relocating to the United States in the quest for a world title.[31]

Peter Mitrevski won the vacant Australian flyweight title against Charlie Brown in 1988 under the training of Lewis.[32] Lewis stated Mitrevski may not go any further in the sport of boxing, suggesting his retirement.[5] Mitrevski was upset by this statement however stayed with Lewis due to his friendship with Jeff Fenech.[5][33]

Paul Briggs asked Lewis to take over his training after a majority decision loss to Tomasz Adamek for the WBC Light Heavyweight title.[34] After the training of Lewis, Briggs got his rematch against Adamek, only to lose again via majority decision.[35] After this loss, Lewis began to reduce training fighters, giving time to his family.[5][10]

Lewis met Jeff Fenech in 1981, when Fenech came in to the Newtown boxing gym for Rugby League fitness.[36] Fenech was cornered by Lewis since his professional debut at Blacktown Police Boys Club, with a win over Craig Easey.[37] Lewis was unimpressed by Fenech's fighting style in the early years and tried to implement discipline in Fenech's life in and out of the ring.[5][36] By this time, Lewis was 37 years-old and had over 20 years of experience training boxers.[5][2] After winning a bronze medal at the 1983 Rome World Cup and captaining the Australian amateur team in the 1984 Olympics Fenech would turn professional under Lewis the following year.[38] Fenech stopped Junior Thompson in the fourth round to win the Australian super-fliyweight title in his third fight.[39] With struggles to cut down to the 115-pound junior bantamweight division, Lewis moved Fenech up to bantamweight.[40][36] Lewis aimed to match Fenech up against different styles to concentrate on one aspect of the sport at a time.[7][18] This was evidenced by Fenech's matchup against Rolly Navarro, a southpaw. Despite dominating the fight, Lewis ordered Fenech to keep the fight going for his experience.[5][4]

Johnny Lewis with Jeff Fenech

After only 7 consecutive wins to start his career Fenech would win the IBF World bantamweight title against Satoshi Shingaki.[37] Johnny Lewis and manager Bill Mordey accepted a rematch with Shingaki in order to stall top contender Jerome Coffee and give Fenench more experience.[5] In the rematch Fenech broke Shingaki's nose in the first round before stopping him in the third.[41]

Jeff Fenech went 15 rounds with American contender Jerome Coffee before being awarded a unanimous decision victory, 148–140, 146–141 and 145–140.[37][42] After the title defence, Lewis would have Fenech train under shadow boxing conditions due to broken hand injuries.[38][5]

Fenech would defend the IBF title against Steve McCrory, despite being dominated in the latter rounds, almost forcing Lewis to throw the towel in.[5][43]

Fenech would knock out Samart Payakaroon in the fourth round to win the WBC Super bantamweight title.[37]

Fenech earned a technical decision victory over Carlos Zarate after a cut was patched up by Lewis in between rounds.[44]

Lewis notoriously demoralised opponents by picking up his fighter and pushing him toward the centre of the ring before the beginning of each round.[5][10][11] Lewis would do this in Fenech's career against Victor Callejas earning him a victory and Azumah Nelson for a split decision draw.[37][5][45]

Fenech would lose a rematch against Nelson,[37] Lewis would only not retire his fighter as he felt he deserved a better ending.[5]

Johnn Lewis cornering Jeff Fenech

Lewis led Fenech to three world titles at bantamweight, featherweight and super featherweight respectively.[10][46]

Jeff Harding was introduced to Lewis at the 1984 Olympics. Lewis moved Harding up to Light Heavyweight permanently after his New South Wales Cruiserweight title victory in 1988.[4]

In his first fight outside Australia Harding defeated Dennis Andries, trained by Hall of Fame trainer Emmanuel Steward solidifying Lewis amongst the elite boxing trainers.[47][5] Before the final round, it was revealed that Lewis said “go out one more time and come back world champion.”[5][6][10][47]

In coaching the Australian amateur team at the World Championships in Moscow, Lewis met Russian Lightweight Kostya Tszyu. Tszyu would move to Australia permanently to train under Lewis and after an impressive knockout streak that would move him up the professional ranks toward light-welterweight contention.[48]

Tszyu would capture the IBF light-welterweight title in January 1995 against Jake Rodriguez.[49] In 2001, Tszyu would defeat Zab Judah to become the WBC, WBA and IBF champion.[50] Revealed in his biography by Paul Kent, Lewis would feel a rift with Tszyu after allegedly being underpaid.[51][52] Further revelations involved the attempts of Lewis to depart as head coach, feeling as if he was not needed in the Tszyu camp.[5][53][54]

Johnny Lewis and Kostya Tszyu