Boxing: ‘We created a monster out of Lewis' - Eliades

Lennox Lewis’ former promoter Panos Eliades reckons he, and Lewis’ former manager Frank Maloney, ‘‘created a monster’’ out of the fighter.

Lewis, who is preparing for his world heavyweight title rematch against Hasim Rahman in Las Vegas on November 17, has sacked Maloney after earlier dumping Eliades and removing his brother Dennis from his business team.

Eliades said: "Frank, Dennis and myself created a huge monster and look what happened.

‘‘I think Lennox will realise one day he made a terrible mistake getting rid of Frank. The timing was terrible with the fight just days away.’’

Maloney was fired after he refused to accept a pay cut he considered ‘‘unliveable with’’ and was informed of his dismissal in a letter, a situation Eliades - never very fond of Maloney when the two worked with Lewis - found scandalous.

‘‘The decision to get rid of Frank was disgraceful,’’ added Eliades.

‘‘Lewis is ungrateful he suffers from selective memory loss. I think he is heading for a disaster, if not in the ring then on a personal level.

‘‘Frank was good for him. He picked him up from nowhere and Frank is responsible for where Lennox is today. In Frank, myself and Dennis Lewis, Lennox had the best team in boxing.

‘‘Forget the differences between myself and Frank and myself, but the three of us worked very well together and Lennox became the best in the world despite a lot of obstacles.’’

Lewis’ trainer Emanuel Steward insists his charge will not be put off by the parting of ways for his rematch against Rahman.

He said: ‘‘Lennox will be totally focused on the fight. He won’t let anything take his mind off what he has to do next week in order to reclaim his world title belts.

‘‘My job now that the training is over is to keep Lennox’s mind 100% on the fight and that’s what I intend to do.’’