Lewis to bow out with heavyweight title intact

Lennox Lewis will be in good company today when he announces in London that he is to retire as reigning world heavyweight champion.

Lewis will become only the third man to quit with his title intact after a 44-fight professional career stretching 16 years.

Rocky Marciano and Gene Tunney retired from boxing with their status as heavyweight champions secure.

Lewis does not want to risk that position in a rematch with Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko, whom he beat controversially in his last fight in June.

Lewis had been ordered by the World Boxing Council to announce his future intentions before March 1 or face being stripped of his title.

And it is believed the West Ham -born 38-year-old has listened to his mother Violet, who was opposed to him fighting on.

Lewis became the first major British world heavyweight champion of the 20th century when he picked up the WBC belt in 1992.

He fought politics and shock defeats against Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman to lord it over a poor generation of heavyweights until his era-defining victory over Mike Tyson in Memphis.

Lewis reserved one of the best performances of his career for his long-time rival, outclassing him on the way to an eighth-round victory.

But the temptation of wading into the next generation proved too much and Lewis agreed to take on Klitschko.

The champion was behind on the scorecards when his opponent was stopped on cuts.

Klitschko is expected to contest the vacant title, probably against South African puncher Corrie Sanders.

Marciano is the only man to retire as undefeated champion. His final fight was a ninth-round knockout of Archie Moore in 1955. Tunney won the title from Jack Dempsey in 1926 and retired with just one loss.