Athletes - Panama Lewis

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	Athletes - Panama Lewis

Carlos "Panama" Lewis is a well-known and highly controversial boxing trainer who achieved his greatest notoriety in the 1980s.

Lewis was a trainer for several highly-rated boxers in the early 1980s, the most noted of which was light-welterweight champion Aaron Pryor. At the same time, he was already gaining a reputation for questionable tactics, one which became worse when he gave Pryor a now-legendary "black bottle" containing an unknown substance during his 1982 clash with Alexis Arguello at a crucial moment of the fight. After drinking from the bottle, a tired Pryor made a remarkable recovery and scored a knockout over Arguello.

On June 16, 1983, Lewis was a key figure in an incident that landed him in prison. Luis Resto, a journeyman boxer trained by Lewis, faced welterweight contender Billy Collins Jr. in a 10-round non-title fight at Madison Square Garden on the undercard of a Roberto Duran title fight.

Realizing that Resto had little chance against the undefeated Collins, Lewis removed most of the padding from Resto's gloves prior to the fight. Given this advantage, Resto battered Collins for 10 rounds and won a lopsided decision. Both of Collin's eyes were horribly swollen and doctors told him he could never fight again and eventually would lose his sight.

The deception was soon discovered, and both Lewis and Resto were later convicted of conspiracy to fix a sporting event and other crimes. Lewis spent a year in prison and was permanently banned from working as a trainer in the United States, while Resto served more than two years in prison. A sad footnote to this story is that Billy Collins committed suicide the following year.

Despite his disgrace, Lewis is able to continue to work as a trainer overseas, with a stable of fighters that included sometime heavyweight contender Frans Botha. He resurfaced in the news in the United States in 2002, when Mike Tyson brought him in as an advisor for his title fight with Lennox Lewis. However, Panama Lewis was barred from ringside for the actual fight.

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