Alex Stewart, a heavyweight contender who fought Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield and nearly beat George Foreman, died on Nov. 16 in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He was 52.
His death was confirmed by Mike Gilberg, a friend, who said Stewart had had a blood clot in his lung.
A perennial contender, Stewart gained a reputation as a smart and tough boxer and fought almost all the big heavyweight names of his time. But he was never able to win the big fights.
He lost twice to Holyfield and was knocked out in the first round of his fight with Tyson in December 1990. But it was his April 1992 fight with Foreman in Las Vegas that was the highlight of his career.
Foreman was in the middle of a comeback, which he would cap two years later by knocking out Michael Moorer to become the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship.
Foreman knocked Stewart down twice in the second round of a scheduled 10-round bout and was battering him in the third when Foreman motioned to the referee, Richard Steele, to stop the fight. But Steele let it continue, and Stewart began pummeling Foreman around the ring.
“I didn’t want to hurt the kid,” Foreman said, “and now the kid hurt me.”
Stewart lost a majority decision, but it was Foreman who looked like a loser after the fight, with his face hidden behind large sunglasses.
“Was that a fight or was that a fight?” Stewart asked reporters afterward.
Stewart lost his second fight to Holyfield the next year, then spent the rest of his career mostly as an opponent for younger fighters to measure themselves against. He retired in 1999 with a record of 43-10, including 40 knockouts.
Stewart was born in London on June 28, 1964, and raised in Jamaica. He fought for Jamaica in the 1984 Olympics before turning professional.
Gilberg said that after retiring from boxing, Stewart was a driver for a liquor distributor in the New York area and later worked in a factory making boxes for the same company.
He is survived by his wife, Angella, and a daughter, Ajay-Tenille.
Article courtesy of NY Times
His death was confirmed by Mike Gilberg, a friend, who said Stewart had had a blood clot in his lung.
A perennial contender, Stewart gained a reputation as a smart and tough boxer and fought almost all the big heavyweight names of his time. But he was never able to win the big fights.
He lost twice to Holyfield and was knocked out in the first round of his fight with Tyson in December 1990. But it was his April 1992 fight with Foreman in Las Vegas that was the highlight of his career.
Foreman was in the middle of a comeback, which he would cap two years later by knocking out Michael Moorer to become the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship.
Foreman knocked Stewart down twice in the second round of a scheduled 10-round bout and was battering him in the third when Foreman motioned to the referee, Richard Steele, to stop the fight. But Steele let it continue, and Stewart began pummeling Foreman around the ring.
“I didn’t want to hurt the kid,” Foreman said, “and now the kid hurt me.”
Stewart lost a majority decision, but it was Foreman who looked like a loser after the fight, with his face hidden behind large sunglasses.
“Was that a fight or was that a fight?” Stewart asked reporters afterward.
Stewart lost his second fight to Holyfield the next year, then spent the rest of his career mostly as an opponent for younger fighters to measure themselves against. He retired in 1999 with a record of 43-10, including 40 knockouts.
Stewart was born in London on June 28, 1964, and raised in Jamaica. He fought for Jamaica in the 1984 Olympics before turning professional.
Gilberg said that after retiring from boxing, Stewart was a driver for a liquor distributor in the New York area and later worked in a factory making boxes for the same company.
He is survived by his wife, Angella, and a daughter, Ajay-Tenille.
Article courtesy of NY Times
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