[4] Although Lewis was never formally sanctioned, the incident sullied his reputation, which was confirmed by his cheating discovered in subsequent fights.
[3] It was later alleged in an interview with former Lewis-trained boxer Luis Resto in the Showtime documentary film Assault in the Ring, that Lewis would break apart pills used to treat asthma and pour the medicine into the water, giving Resto greater lung capacity in the later rounds of a fight.
A fighter he was training, Luis Resto, was fighting undefeated prospect Billy Collins Jr. in a bout televised by ABC's Wide World of Sports.
Prosecutors charged that since Lewis had deliberately removed the padding from Resto's gloves, the bout with Collins amounted to an illegal assault.
Lewis wet the plaster material and used it as a layer in Resto's hand wraps, illegally increasing his punching power.
[8] Resto also alleged that the plot centered around a large amount of money bet on himself, the underdog, by a third party who had met with Lewis prior to the fight.
Lewis maintained his innocence till his death and many of his defenders allege that someone instead removed the padding from Resto's gloves after the bout.
However, this is belied by pictures of Collins' face after the bout; it was badly swollen, and many felt it was improbable a light puncher like Resto could have inflicted such damage on his own.