FanHouse Lennox Lewis

Oleg Maskaev had won two of five fights and been stopped three times when promoter, Dennis Rappaport, met him in 2002 -- not long after the 33-year-old Russian-American had suffered an eighth-round knockout loss to journeyman, Corey Sanders.

Since then, however, Maskaev is 14-1 with 10 knockouts -- a run that began with six straight KOs. The first stoppage was a one-rounder against Erroll Sadikovski in February of 2003.

"Oleg, in the ring, is now doing something that he's never done before -- and that's being relaxed," Rappaport said of Maskaev, who is coming off of a first-round knockout of Rich Boruff in March -- his second straight win since being dethroned as WBC champ a year earlier by Samuel Peter in six rounds.

"A relaxed fighter is the most dangerous fighter in the world. Oleg's boxing beautifully, he's devastating to the body," said Rappaport. "Even at his age, he's learning new things, and, more importantly, he's got the desire to continue learning."

Manny Pacquiao's historic, 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto, whom he dethroned as WBO welterweight champ for a record, seventh title in as many weight classes on Saturday night, has generated 1.25 million buys, according to official records released to FanHouse by Mark Taffet, HBO's senior vice president of pay per view.

Along with Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 19, unanimous decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, which resulted in 1.05 million buys, this year represents the first time HBO pay per view has ever recorded back-to-back fights exceeding a million buys, Taffet indicated in Friday's e-mail.

Pacquiao-Cotto also marks the first time since 1999 that two, pay per view boxing events have totaled more than a million purchases, joining Felix Trinidad's controversial decision over Oscar De La Hoya, and, Lennox Lewis' disputed draw with Evander Holyfield.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that the early pay-per-view numbers released on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Miguel Cotto are "over a million and under 1.5 million buys -- and that's without all of the precincts being reported."

"They're not really accurate yet, but all that we can say with absolute certainty is that Pacquiao-Cotto was the biggest, revenue-producing event on pay-per-view for the entire year," said Arum. "And that surpasses all of the UFC. Everything. Any event. It's the biggest event of the year from the standpoint of revenue being generated."

Arum, who promotes Pacquiao (50-3-2, 37 knockouts), said that he met with officials at HBO on Thursday concerning the numbers.

LAS VEGAS -- When England's David Haye traveled to Nuremberg, Germany, for his Nov. 7 matchup with 7-foot, 316-pound, Nikolay Valuev, the 218-pounder did so with more support from his own countrymen than the man who is named "The Russian Giant" for his status as the largest champion in the history of boxing.

And when Haye broke his right hand in the second round of an eventual, 12-round majority decision, it was the deafening cheers of his fans that lifted him on the way to dethroning Valuev for the WBA championship.

Although his Nov. 8 bout slated for Jeju Island, South Korea, was canceled, 47-year-old former four-time champion, Evander Holyfield, could fight South African, Francois Botha, on Dec. 19, in Uganda. A good showing in the Botha fight could also lead to a possible title shot at WBC champion, Vitali Klitschko, Holyfield's manager, Ken Sanders, told FanHouse on Tuesday.

"We do this fight in December, then I'd say in February or March, we could have a championship fight with the WBC's Vitali Klitschko," said Sanders, whose contention is supported by comments made by WBC president, Jose Sulaiman.

"If Evander comes and has a good showing in the fight that takes place in Jeju, I think that Klitschko might take a fight with him," Sulaiman, told FanHouse on Sept. 28 when Holyfield-Derric Rossy still was scheduled. "I believe that Evander Holyfield is one of the best heavyweight fighters of the last quarter century."

The chaotic scene outside of Veltins Arena resembles that of a big, rock festival.

Inside the jam-packed, 61,462-seat capacity stadium in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen -- one of the largest sports complexes in Germany -- the wait is over.

The larger-than-life, world champion Klitschko brothers emerge from separate sides of the ring and climb through the ropes to finally determine who is the king of the ring.

If only it weren't fantasy.

Not long after Vitali Klitschko's second-round knockout of Herbie Hide secured his first world title in 1999, he received a message from a man he idolized.

"You're not a world champion until you've fought in the United States," said German boxing legend Max Schmeling, who died in 2005.

"If you want to be the real world champion, you have to fight in America," Schmeling told Klitschko. "The United States is the mecca of boxing -- the biggest stage of them all."

World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali klitschko and challenger Cris Arreola boast a combined 60 knockouts among their 64 wins. So the chances are slim that Saturday night's HBO-televised clash at the Staples Center in Los Angeles will go the full, 12-round distance.

If that's the case, just whom do you believe will end up on the canvas?

FanHouse sought out the opinions and predictions of some of the sport's most knowledgeable sources in the boxing world for the answer to that question.

Although he is six years into his retirement, the former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis indicated to FanHouse recently that he felt as if he still could defeat the current crop of heavyweights.

Although he has no plans for a comeback, that didn't stop Lewis from expressing his disappointment in today's division overall, and, in the champion brothers, Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko, in particular. During a Q&A, Lewis said that it was "bad for the sport" that the Klitschkos have vowed not to fight one another.

Check out the full interview below to find out which opponent Lewis wishes he fought during his career and why it was so important to him to fight Mike Tyson.

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During the early evening of his 44th birthday on Wednesday, former undisputed heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis -- six years into retirement -- reflected about his boxing career with FanHouse from his home in Miami.

Lewis let on that he still believes himself capable of returning to the ring.