Panama Lewis - Early Career

Early Career

Lewis was a disciple of trainer Chickie Ferrara. He was Roberto Durán's cornerman when Duran won a unanimous decision against Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980.

During the early 1980s, he was considered one of the best trainers of his time, compared with Emanuel Steward and Lou Duva. The most noted boxer in his stable was light-welterweight champion Aaron Pryor. In 1982, Pryor fought Alexis Argüello. Before the fourteenth round, a cornerman held up a plastic water bottle, but HBO cameras caught Lewis yelling, "Not that bottle, the one I mixed." Pryor knocked out Arguello, but Lewis' comments fueled rumors that the bottle contained stimulants. Lewis said it only contained Perrier and tap water. Although Lewis was never formally sanctioned, the incident sullied his reputation, which was confirmed by his cheating discovered in subsequent fights. It was later alleged in an interview with former Lewis-trained boxer Luis Resto in the HBO documentary film Assault in the Ring, that Lewis would break apart pills used to treat asthma and pour the medicine into the water, giving Resto greater lung capacity in the later rounds of a fight.