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
Shannon Briggs to honor his end of the agreement. Briggs also chased Haye down in Brooklyn when both were in attendance for the Frampton vs. Santa Cruz fight. In October, Haye spoke out about the fight not taking place due to the fact that Briggs wanted the fight to be on ppv, “Because the fight can’t happen on pay-per-view ... I like people thinking I’m running from him and ducking him because when I do get in the ring with him, which I really think I will do, I think it will make it a bigger fight. But at the moment the