Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno lost his first defence against Mike Tyson and retired shortly afterwards. McCall returned to the ring 6 months later when he beat future WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev. In 1997 he fought a rematch again Lennox Lewis for the now vacant WBC title, which he lost in bizarre fashion as he refused to fight and started crying. Confirmed bouts: Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno, billed as "The Empire Strikes Back", was a professional boxing match contested on 2 September 1995 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship. After Oliver McCall narrowly beat former champion Larry Holmes in
Lennox Lewis knocked out in the first round. Lewis retained the WBC world title in 1998 when he knocked out lineal champion Shannon Briggs, who had recently outpointed George Foreman in a controversial fight to win the lineal title in five rounds, and beat formerly-undefeated European champion Željko Mavrović from Croatia in a 12-round unanimous decision. Lewis stated in 2006 that his fight with Mavrovic was the most awkward win of his career. On 13 March 1999, Lewis faced WBA and IBF title holder Evander Holyfield in New York City in what was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout. Lewis fought