Quote Originally Posted by Beanflicker View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Greenbeanz View Post
Surely somebodies birthplace and who they identify themselves as is what determines their nationality not where they spent the second decade of their life ? Lewis did not feel celebrated by the ignorant Canadians who could not get past his skin colour despite what he did for your country after only being there 6 years.


"I have always been English, ever since I emigrated from England and since the kids in Canada beat me up at the age of twelve for having an East London Cockney accent. I thank them for the cockney taunts because the beatings turned me on to boxing."

Lennox Lewis
Yeah, because us Canadians have such a long history of slavery and racial prejudice against blacks... oh wait, that's right, Canada isn't part of America! Silly me!

And Lennox claiming to be British is purely financial. Boxing just wasn't big in Canada like it was across the pond. He didn't get the support in Canada, so THEN he decided he wanted to be British.

If he wanted to be British, he would have fought for England's olympic team. Instead, he represented Canada. You can't just win learn to box in a country and then win a gold medal for that country, and then be like "oh fuck that country, I'm actually British". Lennox is a product of Canada. When you look at a product and it says "MADE IN CHINA" or "MADE IN THE USA", it's a product of that nation. Maybe the raw materials were created in another country, but the finished product was produced by that nation. Word is born.

And yeah I did just compare a human being to Chinese trinket. So what?
The thing is it is not about the British claiming Lennox Lewis, being English is something Lennox has claimed for himself. Not that it is at all arrogant for you to start a poll from Canada on a British website about the greatest British Heavyweight of all time and then leave out A British born heavyweight who claims to be British himself. If I did not know better I would think you are trolling. You have made it into an Aunt Sally ( what you are so fond of calling a straw man) argument by introducing this little irrelevance

"Yeah, because us Canadians have such a long history of slavery and racial prejudice against blacks... oh wait, that's right, Canada isn't part of America! Silly me!"

Did I ever say such a thing? Why would I mistake Canada as part of America ? and what the hell does Lennox Genetics coming from Jamaica have to do with anything? Do you think everyone in Britain is white with a bowler hat? We don't all look like Sean O'Sullivan you know


Jim Cornall, Canada but originally English: Now that I live in Canada, you are usually here referred to as: "Canadian Lennox Lewis who now lives in England." How do you feel about this? Do you consider yourself completely English now?
Lennox Lewis: I have always been English, ever since I emigrated from England and since the kids in Canada beat me up at the age of twelve for having an East London Cockney accent. I thank them for the cockney taunts because the beatings turned me on to boxing.