Memphis, Tenn. ? Lennox Lewis showed the bully who was boss.

Using a masterful left jab and landing his right hand at will, Lewis battered a befuddled Mike Tyson before stopping him with a crashing right hand in the eighth round to keep his heavyweight titles Saturday night.

Tyson was bleeding from cuts over his eyes and from his nose when Lewis landed a punch that sent him sprawling on his back in Lewis’ corner. Tyson tried to stand up at the count of eight, getting to one knee, but he was counted out by referee Eddie Cotton at 2:25 of the round.

It was a sudden end to a dominating performance by Lewis, who overwhelmed the former champion from the opening bell.

Lewis, who had vowed to beat Tyson to restore order to the heavyweight division, pounded him with jabs from the first round on, keeping Tyson away and out of range. When Tyson did get close, Lewis hit him with a right uppercut or an overhand right.

Tyson was exposed as a fighter with limited skills who kept trying to throw punches at the champion but connected only occasionally. Tyson kept trying to rush in and land a big punch, but he never hurt Lewis with any of them.

Early in the eighth round, Tyson was bleeding from cuts and from his nose when Lewis hit him with a series of punches that buckled his legs and nearly put him down. Cotton ruled it a knockdown and gave Tyson an 8-count.

When the fight resumed, Lewis went after Tyson again, throwing right hands and jabs before finally connecting with a huge right hand that crashed into the side of Tyson’s face, sending him sprawling on his back. Punch Stats showed Lewis threw 328 punches and landed 193 of them, while Tyson threw 211 and landed only 49. The AP had Lewis winning every round.

Tyson was beaten badly but showed some concern for Lewis after the fight, wiping blood off his cheek as they answered questions in the ring.

“He’s a magnificent, a prolific fighter and he should continue fighting,” Tyson said. “I love him and respect him too much to do something to him.”

At 6-foot-5, 2491/4 pounds, Lewis was bigger, faster and stronger than the 5-11 Tyson, who weighed 2341/2.

“I caught him and he went down, but some of those punches that I caught him on, he took them like a man,” Lewis said. “I felt them all the way through my arm.”

Lewis said he never worried about Tyson biting him or committing a foul to change the outcome of the fight.

“I thought Mike Tyson was going to behave himself. There was too many people watching. I wasn’t going to give him any reason to bite me,” he said.

Lewis wasn’t cautious against Tyson, who was disqualified for biting Evander Holyfield on both ears in a 1997 title fight. Lewis pushed Tyson around, didn’t let him get inside and generally acted like the bully himself.

Still, trainer Emanuel Steward kept telling Lewis between rounds to take Tyson out.

“Emanuel was pleading with me to take him out,” Lewis said. “Emanuel told me to take him out earlier. I was just waiting for the time.”

The loss may have been disastrous to the career of Tyson, who wants a rematch. Lewis said “anything is possible.”