Elmer Smith: News of Butch Lewis' passing packs a punch

NEWS REPORTS say that legendary boxing promoter Butch Lewis died of a massive heart attack.

That sounds about right to me. Because Butch had a massive heart.

He was a paradox, a contradiction in terms. He was the original little big man, a fierce boardroom brawler who could strip you clean in a bargaining session, then become your most trusted partner when the deal was done.

When he carried the shield for one of the fighters or entertainers he represented, Butch could be tough as nails. Those who have faced him across a negotiating table, or "in the trenches" as he liked to say, knew they had to come ready to rumble.

But he was a sucker for a sob story. Those who got to him with their tales of woe often found a direct link between his heart strings and purse strings. In November, when Lynne Carter, a boxing judge and Streets Department official, was trying to raise money for children with autism, we called Butch.

He delayed a business trip to Dubai and showed up for our fundraiser with two of his children and with Michael Spinks and Fareed Ahmed, a close associate. He wrote a check for more than we had requested.

"I wouldn't do this for anybody else," he claimed. Both of us knew that wasn't true.

Don Hubbard, who first partnered with Butch in promoting two Leon Spinks vs. Muhammad Ali fights, recalled the hard bargainer and the soft touch.

"I've seen him bawl a guy out about a $10 meal ticket and then turn around and give the guy $500 for his light bill," Hubbard said. "That was Butch."

He went toe-to-toe with Don King and hotel mogul Barron Hilton in a contract dispute that ended up in federal court before Butch finally prevailed. That was Butch, too.

The battle splintered a short but productive partnership between BLP and Don King Productions. They had combined to co-sponsor the heavyweight title unification tournament that ended with Mike Tyson in possession of all three belts.

It wouldn't be the last time they'd do business together. The fight game is like that. Guys brawl to the final bell then embrace when its over.

The final bell tolled for Butch Lewis on Saturday at daybreak. His heart stopped as he rested at his sprawling beach house near Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Two weeks earlier he had gathered his friends at the house one last time for a nonstop, two-day party to celebrate his 65th birthday. The guest list included celebrity friends like actor Denzel Washington; actor-producers Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell Reid, who co-produced two movies with BLP; BET founder Bob Johnson and, of course, his righthand man, former heavyweight champion Michael Spinks.

Also included were a number of people whose names wouldn't ring a bell with you. You didn't have to be anybody as long as you were somebody to him.

I'll remember the historic fights he promoted, how he guided the careers of two brothers named Spinks, who both became heavyweight champions on his watch. I will remember the way his eyes narrowed to slits when he flashed that ear-to-ear smile.

I'll remember the bad times, too, like the night he lost a fortune when Dwight Muhammad Qawi pulled out of a fight in Reno at the last minute.

A few of us gathered in his suite that night. Butch broke open a case of the commemorative mugs he had planned to distribute at the post-fight party. We drank Crown Royal from the mugs and toasted the occasion as if it were a great moment in boxing.

I still have that mug and the memories that go with it. We'll tell the old stories Monday morning at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., when the late Butch Lewis brings his crew together one last time.