Boxing: Floored: 'The Baddest Man on the Planet'

Lennox Lewis offered his knock-out victory over Mike Tyson in the small hours of yesterday morning as a jubilee gift to the Queen. It was a brutal business, this public battering of the convicted rapist who once claimed to be the Baddest Man on the Planet, and it might not be totally compatible with Her Majesty's most refined taste.

But it did elevate Lewis, who was born in east London, raised in Canada, lives in America and spends much of his time in his mother's native Jamaica and was already the reigning world heavyweight champion, to boxing's version of the monarchy.

Even Tyson, floored in the eight round, was gracious: "Lennox was masterful," he said. "I'm just happy he didn't kill me."

He was harsher on himself though: "Don't worry about me, I'm a street man and I'm probably heading for oblivion."