Lennox Lewis out American contender Lionel Butler. However, at the behest of promoter Don King, the WBC bypassed him and gave Mike Tyson the first chance at the title recently won by Briton Frank Bruno from Oliver McCall. Bruno had previously lost to both Lewis and Tyson. Lewis had the number 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings when he knocked out Australian Justin Fortune, then defeated former WBO Champion Tommy Morrison in October 1995, followed by Olympic gold medalist and former WBO champion Ray Mercer in a close majority decision in May 1996. Lewis successfully sued to force Tyson to make
History of boxing in the Philippines new wave of Filipino boxers and marks the third great era of Philippine boxing. On December 4, 1998, Pacquiao upset Thai Champion Chatchai Sasakul in Thailand to win the Lineal and WBC flyweight championship (his first world title). On his title defense, Pacquiao lost his title on the scale and was knocked out in the fight by Medgoen Singsurat of Thailand. Pacquiao lost his WBC title on the scales as he was unable to make the flyweight limit. Pacquiao gained weight and skipped the super flyweight and bantamweight divisions to fight at super bantamweight division. Pacquiao, for the second time