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
Zou Shiming #7 by the IBF and WBO and #9 by the WBC. After Shiming beat Brazilian boxer Natan Santana Coutinho by technical knockout to win back the WBO International flyweight title, and retained the title at Madison Square Garden in New York City against contender Jozsef Ajtai, he was ranked as the classified contender for the vacant WBO world title vacated by Juan Francisco Estrada, who decided to move up to super flyweight. On November 5, 2016, in a rematch from November 2014, Shiming defeated Prasitsak Phaprom (39-1-2, 24 KOs) via a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO flyweight title