Lennox Lewis vs. Željko Mavrović, billed as "Battle of the Giants", was a professional boxing match contested on September 26, 1998 for the WBC and Lineal Heavyweight Championships.

After picking up a disqualification victory over Henry Akinwande due to Akinwande's excessive holding, Lewis impressively defeated his next two opponents, needing only 95 seconds to defeat Andrew Golota by first round knockout, and then, after a slow start, rebounded to defeat Shannon Briggs, knocking him down three times en route to a victory by fifth round technical knockout which added the Lineal Heavyweight title to Lewis' resume.

As a result, Lewis instead agreed to match with the WBC's number one contender, the undefeated Croatian fighter Željko Mavrović.

Lewis' victory over Mavrović coupled with Holyfield's win over Vaughn Bean a week before lead to speculation that the long awaited unification bout between the two would be next.

A month after their respective victories, a deal was in place that would see the fight happen early in 1999, but Lewis was reluctant to sign the contract and it was not until November 24 that the match was officially agreed to.