[1] Following an easy victory over the previously undefeated Michael Grant on 29 April, Lennox Lewis agreed to make his next defense against South African contender Francois Botha.

Botha then fought a close majority draw with fellow heavyweight contender Shannon Briggs and earned an easy first-round knockout victory over journeyman Steve Pannell before landing the championship fight with Lewis.

Though Botha came into the fight as a huge underdog, he remained confident that he could defeat Lewis stating "If I don’t knock him out, it’s going to be a terrible beating.

"[3] On the undercard highly regarded contender Wladimir Klitschko (WBC/WBA:3rd IBF:7th) stopped Monte Barrett (IBF:12th WBC:13th) in the 7th round after knocking him down 5 times.

With about 40 seconds left in the round, Lewis was able to land a powerful four punch combination that knocked Botha halfway out of the ring.