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
International Boxing Union (since 1996) World Super Middleweight title fights of Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton and Omar Sheika that became ESPN2's "Fight of the Year" in 2003 and 2004. On 7 April 2012, 7-time multiple weight class World Champion James Toney captured the vacant IBU World Heavyweight championship with a TKO over World Heavyweight Bare Knuckle Championship Holder Bobby Gunn. International Boxing Union (since 1996) The International Boxing Union (IBU) is a professional boxing sanctioning body founded in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, in 1996. It is unrelated to the International Boxing Union, based in Europe, which operated until the Second World War. Although the IBU