Weighty issue ahead of title fight

“Whatever he weighs, he looks good and I’m satisfied,” trainer Emanuel Steward said, shrugging off any suggestion that 37-year-old Lewis (40-2-1, 31 KOs) was not fit or had taken the fight lightly.

“He’s been training and training good, he’s a big guy and he looks good. He’s in great shape and sparring more than he ever has and that’s what he weighs, I’m happy about it.”

Klitschko (32-1, 31 KOs) also added some weight for Saturday’s WBC and IBO bout, tipping the scales at 248 pounds. Promoters said that made it the heaviest heavyweight title fight in history at a combined 504 1/2 pounds.

The 6-foot-7 Klitschko, a late replacement for Kirk Johnson after the Canadian was injured in training, has fought at 249 pounds but was down to 244 and 246 for his last two fights.

The most Lewis had previously weighed for a bout was 253 pounds against Hasim Rahman in April 2001, a fight he lost in five rounds as the American picked up the WBC and IBF titles.

Seven months later, Lewis, a trim 246 pounds, hit back to reclaim the titles with a fourth-round knockout of Rahman.

“I think the Hasim Rahman fight put him (Lewis) in the state of mind where he’ll never relax going into a fight,” said Steward. “I’m not at all worried about his weight.

“He’s a big man, a solid man, it’s a different type of muscle. I look at a guy’s body and Lennox is in very good shape.

“As you get older you become denser, that’s a fact. He’s in great shape, if he had came in at 250 I would have been upset,” said Steward.

“That’s what I would have been upset about. That’s not normal for him at this age right now. He looks good and strong and that’s all that matters.” (Reuters)