Lewis Wins When Mccall Refuses To Keep Fighting

Lennox Lewis became a champion for the second time, while Oliver McCall became a bum in the eyes of fight fans Friday night at the Las Vegas Hilton.

McCall refused to fight in the fourth and fifth rounds and referee Mills Lane stopped the fight in the fifth.

“McCall was disqualified and we’ll have an examination,” said Mark Ratner, head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. He also said McCall’s $3 million purse would be held up.

“I don’t know what happened. I can’t even make a venture,” said promoter Don King.

McCall refused to go to his corner after the third round. He also refused to go to the corner after the fourth round until Lane led him there.

“Lewis was in there with a lunatic,” said McCall’s trainer, George Benton. “He (McCall) was talking incoherently, but he’d been doing that all week.”

McCall has been in and out of drug rehabilitation the past 18 months and was accompanied to Las Vegas by a drug counselor.