As soon as I entered the wide open room at the auction house, I knew I had walked into the world of Butch Lewis. On a far wall in front of me was a huge white banner with Michael Spinks’ name in bold red capital letters.
Lewis was the man who made Spinks a millionaire in less than two minutes.
I didn’t know very much about Butch Lewis, though. In fact, I had never heard his name until a few days earlier when a fellow auction-goer mentioned some African American paintings that were to be sold as part of an auction of his estate. The man gushed over the artwork, so I knew I had to come to scope it out.
I’m not much of a fight fan, and the closest I’ve come has been through Vernoca Michael, owner of the now-closed Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. But I do love a good auction, and so I came, my mind focused on the artwork but sidetracked after seeing eight to 10 tables holding an eclectic mix of Lewis’ stuff. Some of the items were autographed.
On the walls hung signed and unsigned posters and banners from his years as a promoter and manager. Racks of leather jackets, fur coats, suits, and tailored shirts monogrammed with his name, a white tuxedo were in (and out) of dry-cleaner plastic and travel bags. Several pairs of suede and crocodile shoes were laid out on a table.
Touches of Lewis’ life were in every room of the auction house, the items as mundane as a $5 juicer to a $1,700 14-K gold Gerard Petit watch. Tufted leather sofas, zebra-striped bar stools, some household items, artwork and decorative pieces were in one room. Watches, bracelets and other jewelry were secure in glass cases in the room with the posters.
Some of the posters were signed by people familiar to me: Maya Angelou in 2001 signed posters of a poem titled “Daughters and Sons.” Actor Chris Tucker signed a “Rush Hour” poster for his buddy movies with Jackie Chan (sold for $5). Artist Charles Bibb signed 2003 posters celebrating the 163rd anniversary of Morehouse College in Atlanta. Artist LeRoy Neiman signed posters for the 1988 “Tyson vs Spinks Once and For All Fight” at Trump Plaza ($140-$150 each). The Neiman posters included the signatures of Tyson and Spinks.
The auction also included unsigned posters and other paraphernalia of boxing, and much more from Lewis’ own private world. One of the most interesting was an upright black panther sculpture that one auction staffer found “awesome. Put it near your door every day and high-five it,” he said. It looked more like an overpowering black cat that wanted to play with you. It sold for $150.
Lewis, who died in 2011 at age 65, seemed to be best known as the manager of Michael and Leon Spinks, although he had relationships with Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. He was the one who got Michael Spinks $13.5 million for sticking it out in the ring for 1 ½ minutes with Mike Tyson in 1988.
Even I remember that debacle.
He was born Ronald Everett Lewis in New Jersey but grew up in Philadelphia, according to his obituary in the New York Times. In high school, he sold cheap rings at high prices to unsuspecting buyers. A friend at a jewelry store would sell him the rings and appraise them for the potential buyer at prices way beyond what they were worth.
Lewis sold cars on his father’s used car lot for a time. His father was a financial backer of Smokin’ Joe, and Lewis followed the boxer on the road, sitting in on meetings with promoters. He liked what he saw and decided to try it out for himself.
He met Ali through Frazier and promoted Ali’s 1976 bout in Munich. Later, while employed with promoter Top Rank, Lewis took on the Spinks brothers, who were Olympic gold medalists. Under Lewis’ guidance, a little-known Leon Spinks beat Ali in an upset victory for the heavyweight title in 1978.
For a time, Lewis also was in a partnership with the infamous promoter Don King.
Lewis left Top Rank and opened his own firm, where he managed to get the big purse for Michael Spinks, who then retired.
He promoted Bernard Hopkins for a short period early in the boxer’s career, but the two parted ways. Hopkins sued Lewis, accusing him of shortchanging him in a fight, and won the lawsuit.
In the 1990s, Lewis turned his Bernard Lewis Productions to representing entertainers, and also partnered on other such enterprises, including music with Def Jam/Universal Records and films with BET and Tim and Daphne Reid. Two of the items at auction were a leather-trimmed “BET Jazz” jacket and 15th anniversary paperweight.
According to several accounts, he loved to look good – and in every photo I saw of him he sported a smile. He was apparently opulent both in his dress and his manner, wearing tuxedos and ties without shirts – his trademark – and gold jewelry. The auction items included several gold watches (a Cartier sold for $1,500) and a faux Rolex ($110), red crocodile shoes and other shoes with handmade soles, cashmere coats and jackets, a black fur coat ($425, which when sold drew applause) and other designer outfits.
Lewis was also apparently a man with a big heart. He was a philanthropist who donated to worthy causes and raised money for children’s programs. He helped James Brown after the singer was being released from prison, producing Brown’s pay-per-view “James Brown: Living in America.” (A James Brown doll was among items on a table of other household items. I’m not sure if it was signed.) He also worked against apartheid when Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and helped raise funds for Mandela’s African National Congress after his release. Mandela gave Lewis a humanitarian award in 2004.
Among the items at auction were two 1998 Mandela calendars ($30).
Lewis died only a month after celebrating his 65th birthday in 2011 in grand style at his home outside Wilmington, DE, with such friends as Denzel Washington and performances by the O’Jays. A few months ago, Washington, the actor Leon Robinson (simply known as Leon), Reid and others gathered at Lewis’ grave to remember him.
At auction, Lewis’ belongings sold both high and low – as is always the case. A lot consisting of a blender, mixer and coffee grinder sold for $5. Someone bought two cigar boxes with cigars still in their cases for $45.
Another man bought some rope, likely from a boxing ring. He said he’d use them in a decorating project in his home. “I did a little boxing when I was younger,” he said. He also bought boxing gloves, which he will give to friends who are as much into boxing as him. “They’ll think they’re fun,” he said.
As for those hitting pads he bought, they will go to his young son who’s at an age where he likes to hit his mother and father: “I’ll have him to hit the pads.”
Another buyer paid $10 for a silver fabric pillow engraved with the 1985 Holmes vs Spinks fight in Las Vegas.
A pair of metal cranes/flamingos that appeared to be nearly 6 feet tall went tit-for-tat among two buyers before stopping at $950. A heavy glass stylized figurine of a man and woman topped off at $2,000. Fight posters sold for less than $100 each. Boxing gloves sold for about $35 to $45. A large Spinks 1997 Vaughn “Shake-‘N-Bake” Bean banner loaded with signatures sold for $100.
There was also a banner designating Michael Spinks as the undisputed heavyweight champion, apparently made in anticipation of his winning the bout against Tyson in 1988. I wasn’t around when the auction house sold either of the Michael Spinks banners.
As for the artwork, I finally got around to checking it out and fell in love with an original collage by Bryan Collier, which two other women wanted just as much as me. I hung in there, though, and got it. Collier had two other large collages of African American boys at play that I had seen before at craft shows.
I met Butch Lewis in the 1980s. I did work in his home. He was very amiable. I do not recall the location of his home. I do remember installing mirrors in his bar. He did have a unique sense of style. May God rest his soul.