AS usual Neil Bramwell filled his column (LET, December 9) with a load of tosh.

Firstly, Lennox Lewis was born in London on September 2,1965, and didn't move to Canada until he was 12.

He was an outstanding athlete but took up boxing because the other kids in his school bullied him as he had a Cockney accent.

When he came back to this country in 1989, he had lost his British accent, but he stated that he always counted himself as British.

He wasn't popular when he came back because of people who judged him on his accent alone. He has stuck at it and has got his just rewards.

Carl Fogarty is a very talented rider, but I feel Lennox Lewis deserves the BBC Sports Personality of the Year accolade more because Fogarty's sport is part man, part machine.

It's not just rider against rider, or boxer against boxer in Lewis' case.

How many times this year has Fogarty stated that the Ducatis don't usually perform very well on a certain circuit, but do on others?

Finally, I hate Manchester United too, but I don't feel that as sports editor, Neil Bramwell has the right to air his views in such a manner because, instead of making valid points once in a while, it makes him sound bitter and twisted.

STEVE GOODWILL, St John's Road, Burnley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.