Rare appearance by former champion Lennox Lewis in Cannock

The last undisputed World Heavyweight Champion made a rare public appearance to talk about his remarkable career at Bar Sport.

Bar owner Scott Murray said: "He's a huge hero of mine. He won't even do these shows in London or Canada or anywhere."

Lennox, who is 56, was at the Premier Suite to meet fans and take part in a special evening event, hosted by former WBC Super Middleweight champion Richie Woodhall and boxing journalist Steve Bunce.

The dinner event on Sunday saw the former Olympic gold medallist and multiple-time world champion talk about his life and career and commentate on clips of him in action, as well as meeting local stars Olympic silver medallist Ben Whittaker and Frazer Clarke.

It was also a chance for fans to meet and get photos with Lennox, who was in the country from his home in Toronto in Canada to commentate on the Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte fight at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

Mr Murray said it was a rare opportunity to speak to the champ, saying that he very rarely did public appearances, and said it was through good luck and a chat with his agent that the event was able to happen.

He said: "He doesn't do public appearance all that often and certainly doesn't do dinner shows, but he is a huge hero of mine, growing up watching boxing, and I'd always wanted to get him here as a guest speaker.

"I know his agent Geraldine Davis very well and we've been working on getting him here for five or six years now, and while he lives in Toronto and Jamaica, he was over here for the Tyson Fury fight, so I asked him if he would do the event and he said yes.

"He is a very private person and doesn't do these shows at all, so it's like a world exclusive for us to get him in a small town like Cannock, when he won't even do these shows in London or Canada or anywhere."

Mr Murray said the evening had been a great success, praising Richie Woodall and Lennox Lewis for the way they ran the evening and said it was a thrill for himself to have Lennox Lewis in his bar.

He said: "It was a huge coup for us as we've had some of the great boxers and sport stars of the past, but I'd say Lennox was the best of them all, not just his stature, but also the way he spoke to the audience.

"He was great with everybody and posed for pics and was just a nice lovable guy and a class act all the way, and people forget that he was the last undisputed World Heavyweight Champion, so I can't imagine we'll ever get anyone like that again.

"I also don't think we'd have got Lennox here if we hadn't built the reputation we'd built over time with the people we've had here and the way we treat them, so it's been a great success for us."