Fans of Chicago-based professional boxer Johnny Lewus (25-4-1, 21 KOs) better get used to seeing a lot less of him.
Lewus, who will face Saint Paul, Minnesota’s Allen “The American Boy” Litzau in the eight-round lightweight main event of Hitz Boxing’s “Thanksgiving Eve Belvedere Bash”, on Wednesday, November 23, at The Belvedere in Elk Grove, Illinois, will be coming in a full 20 lbs lighter than when he began his comeback as a junior middleweight last year.
“I feel great,” said an energetic Lewus on his way to the gym. “I feel like I’m 25 years old. I can move better; everything is much better. Heavyweights put all this weight on and they’re fine, but we little guys get slow and sluggish. I’m fast again now. I’m back to Johnny Lewus. I’m back to a world-class fighter and I feel good about it.”
An in-shape Johnny Lewus could still have a lot to offer the boxing world.
Fighting from featherweight to lightweight before taking a decade off, 40-year-old Lewus’s only losses came by decision to such names as the great Orlando Canizales, Vuyani Bungu (for the IBF Super Bantamweight Championship) and former world champion Kennedy McKinney (He also dropped a four-round decision very early in his career).
Lewus says his reawakening as a serious fighter came from fighting to a draw with a less-skilled, but much larger, opponent and from watching his 13-year-old son train for an amateur fight.
“I had a draw against a guy that was just too big and I felt terrible in there. Believe it or not, somebody showed me a picture of the fight and I said that’s not even me. I decided right there that if I’m going to make a comeback, I’ll have to do it the right way. You can’t fight bigger guys like that. You’ll get hurt. Plus, I have a 13-year-old son who also fights and what kind of a role model am I if I’m a fat fighter? He’s got a six-pack stomach and I have a kegger around my waist.”
The new/old version of Lewus says he is looking forward to the test that Litzau has to offer him.
“This fight should be a good step up. Litzau is a tough kid, but I’ll go in and do what I’m supposed to do and get him out of there. While it lasts, there should be lot of action. He throws a lot of punches and so do I, so it’s going to be action-packed fight.”
Lewus appreciates his long-time promoter Bobby Hitz and all of his loyal fans for their loyalty and would like to pay them all back by giving boxing his all one more time.
“I have to give this a real shot. I’ve got to take care of my family. I have my mom with me, my dad passed away. I’m the man of the house now and it’s time for me to step up. I know I’ll be an underdog on the way up, but whatever you put your mind to do you can do. I tell myself that all the time and I truly believe it. I don’t feel forty. I’ll be too old when I say I’m too old.”
