Today in Boxing History: Six Heads Lewis wins welterweight title

On this day in 2001, Andrew “Six Heads� Lewis won the WBA Welterweight title with a seventh-round TKO of James Page in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Page had initially won the WBA Welterweight belt in 1998 with a second-round knockout of Andrei Pestriaev. He successfully defended the title three times, but was stripped of his championship in 2000 when he refused to defend his title against Lewis on short notice. Lewis was an up-and-coming fighter with a record of 19-0-1.

The title was then made vacant and Lewis and Page were signed to fight for it. While Page was given more time to prepare, his ring rust was apparent. Lewis dropped him in the second round and beat Page to the punch throughout the fight. In the seventh round, Lewis sent Page to the canvas with a right hook. Page made it to his feet by the count of eight, but when he did not respond to referee Kenny Bayless’ questions, the bout was stopped.

Lewis defended the title twice – a decision over Larry Marks and a no-contest with Ricardo Mayorga – before losing it via a fifth-round stoppage to Mayorga in 2002. He has gone 1-2-1 since then. Page retired following his loss to Lewis.