Ron Lewis, a respected sports journalist from England and valued contributor to BoxingScene.com, died suddenly Friday.
Lewis, 54, died at his home in London. He is survived by his wife, Ellie, their 12-year-old son, Stanley, and their 9-year-old daughter, Polly.
“I am sorry to announce the death of my husband Ron,” Ellie Lewis wrote in a Tweet that was posted from Ron’s Twitter account Friday. “He passed away this morning at the age of 54. It was a complete shock. It’s wonderful reading all your messages and memories of him as his phone keeps pinging. Thank you everyone who was a part of his life.”
Lewis wrote about boxing and various other sports, namely soccer and sailing, for The Times of London, one of the UK’s top print publications, from 2001-19. He covered four Olympic Games for The Times, as well as numerous world title fights across the globe.
Lewis covered boxing for various publications since the 1980s, most recently BoxingScene.com, and was a valued member of the boxing and journalism communities in the UK. Lewis was just 15 years old when he began writing about boxing for Boxing News and the Ealing Gazette.
He worked as an editor for two more of the UK’s prominent publications, The Guardian and Daily Mail, prior to his long tenure at The Times.
“He was a great friend, travel companion and someone who helped me out so much when I was starting out in journalism,” said Chris McKenna, who covers boxing and soccer for The Daily Star of London. “I’ll miss him forever.”
The affable Lewis covered countless press conferences and fights from ringside for BoxingScene.com as its primary UK correspondent from 2019 until the time of his death. He most recently attended the Anthony Joshua-Jermaine Franklin press conference Thursday in London, from which one of his stories was posted Friday morning (https://www.boxingscene.com/joshua-if-oleksandr-usyk-tyson-fury-fight-it-good-fight–172387).
“Ron Lewis was one of the rare good guys in the sport. He was highly respected by everyone,” said Rick Reeno, BoxingScene.com’s founder and editorial director. “He was always there when you needed him. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Ron, and I know that Ron has left a lasting impression on everyone who was lucky enough to know him.
“Throughout my career, I’ve met plenty of personalities, characters, and people – but very few as special as Ron. He was the type of person you’d easily become friends with. Ron was an amazing person, and I know that he will be deeply missed. Thank you for everything, Ron.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.