R.I.P. Steve Lott (1950-2021)

Steve Lott, who was an occasional roommate of Mike Tyson during Tyson’s amateur and early pro days and then an important cog of Team Tyson through Tyson’s famous fight with Michael Spinks, passed away today (Saturday, Nov. 6) at age seventy-one at a hospital in Las Vegas.

Unknown to most people, Lott was an epileptic. Details are sketchy, but apparently Lott suffered a seizure, hit his head as he fell and suffered irreversible brain damage. When he was removed to the hospital, he was placed on life support. A confirmed bachelor, Steve had no immediate family in Las Vegas where he located after leaving New York.

As a teenager, Steve Lott was a champion handball player. As related in a recently published two-part story in these pages, his acumen on the handball court caught the attention of the late Jim Jacobs who became his mentor. Jacobs, an obsessive collector of old fight films, was arguably the best handball player of all time.

Lott’s association with Jim Jacobs would thrust him into a vortex whose central characters were young Mike Tyson, Mike’s crusty trainer Cus D’Amato and D’Amato’s protege Kevin Rooney, Jacobs, and Jacobs’ eventual business partner, the late New York advertising executive Bill Cayton.

Jacobs and Cayton founded Big Fights Inc. which owned the largest video library of old fights in the world and branched into the management of fighters, taking on a select group of clients which came to number five world champions. The video library and assorted memorabilia was sold to ESPN but Lott was bequeathed a proprietary interest.

Lott founded the Boxing Hall of Fame Las Vegas after moving west. The “Hall” briefly had a brick-and-mortar presence at the Luxor Hotel where it was part of an exhibit with other sports Halls, but when the lease wasn’t renewed, he moved the operation to Facebook.

This reporter recently asked Lott for assistance in finding photographs for an upcoming book. I was stunned by his generosity. He went the extra mile and wanted no recompense. His interest in keeping the legacy of boxing alive was pure.

This story was rushed into print. As new details become available, they will be spooned in so please check back again.

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