This fight was going to happen before Lewis took Rahman to court to enforce the rematch clause. He was scared Rahman would lose to Mike then his rematch with Hasim meant nothing, he then took Mike to court to stop a Mercer warm up fight just before their match, he was to scared Mike would sharpen up

This is one reason that proves Lennox never really wanted to fight Mike while he was a going concern in 96 rather than enforce his mandatory he gladly took the money and ran