WHEN Lennox Lewis and Gary Mason met in a battle of undefeated champions at Wembley Arena, it was billed as the biggest all-British heavyweight fight for 20 years. Not since the clash between Henry Cooper and a young, brash Joe Bugner at the same venue in March 1971 had two domestic big men squared off with so much on the line.

Two championships were at stake – Mason’s British title and Lewis’s European crown – and both knew defeat would cost them their place in the queue for a world title fight. But despite the risk involved, the fight made sense as Lewis and Mason were the leading contenders for each other’s titles.

The promotional bidding war for the fight was won by Mason’s manager Mickey Duff, who put up a record sum of £276,000, to be split equally between the two boxers.

Despite having had only 14 fights, Lewis was already ranked number 11 by the WBC, seven places below Mason. There was concern, though, that Lewis wasn’t ready for the heavy-handed Londoner, who had scored 32 knockouts in 35 consecutive wins while largely fighting in the shadow of his better-known stablemate Frank Bruno.

Mason had suffered a detached retina in his right eye during a points win over Everett ‘Big Foot’ Martin a year earlier and was having only his second fight since undergoing corrective surgery.

Before the bout, which was screened live on BBC television, Mason showed no fear of Lewis’s growing reputation by warning: ‘Lennox keeps saying I’ve got something he wants. Well, I’ve got something I wanna give him.’ Mason was presumably making a cryptic reference to his right hand, a formidable weapon with which he had knocked out many of his previous opponents. But it wasn’t enough against Lewis.

Taller and more mobile, Lewis controlled the fight behind his long left jab as Mason battled to get inside, where he could do most damage. Mason was hampered from the third round onwards by a swelling around his right eye, which steadily worsened as he fought on bravely to try to turn the tide his way.

A last-ditch attack by a wounded and increasingly desperate Mason at the start of the seventh failed to save him. While separating the fighters from a clinch, referee Larry O’Connell decided to stop the fight with Mason’s face a bloody pulp, his damaged eye completely closed.

At 25, Lewis was now the British and European heavyweight champion and it was still less than two years since he had turned professional. Although Mason had been the crowd favourite, Lewis’s victory against a dangerous, unbeaten opponent had gone at least some way towards engendering the public approval he wanted as he moved towards bigger fights.

The significance of the fight with Mason was never forgotten by Lewis. In January 2011, nearly 20 years later, Mason was tragically killed in a road traffic accident while out riding his bicycle in south London. Remembering his rival, Lewis tweeted: ‘My bout with him was a watershed moment in my career and I’m truly grateful to have known him.’