In what was an occasion of some significance, past and present world heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis and Deontay Wilder were invited to the White House to witness the pardoning of fellow champion Jack Johnson by US president Donald Trump on Thursday.Unfortunately, US media outlet CNN confused Lewis and Wilder when captioning a picture of the ceremony - and their gaffe did not go unnoticed by the former, who took to Twitter to highlight their gaffe in a tongue-in-cheek fashion.Johnson, who became the first-ever black world heavyweight champion when he defeated Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia in 1908, was controversially sentenced to one year's imprisonment in 1913.Johnson was charged with crossing state lines with his white girlfriend under the now-much maligned Mann Act, and would eventually serve his prison term in 1920.He was convicted by an all-white jury and the case has long been viewed as an abhorrent miscarriage of justice.More than 100 years after his initial conviction, President Trump announced that he was to issue Johnson with a posthumous pardon and apology in relation to the charge.The White House, in conjunction with the WBC, invited former undisputed heavyweight champion Lewis and current WBC champion Wilder to attend the ceremony. The pair were also joined by Rocky star Sylvester Stallone.The world's media were present to capture the historic event, including CNN.Regrettably, however, the news outlet failed to correctly caption a picture featuring Wilder and Trump, instead suggesting that it was Lewis who appeared alongside the US President in the image.

Lewis was quick to send a tweet to alert them of their error - and even joked that he was flattered by the mistake.

Lewis retired from the ring with a record of 41-2-1 following a controversial victory over Vitali Klitschko in 2003.

The now-52-year-old did, however, briefly consider a comeback in 2013 when rumours of a $100 million offer to fight Wladimir Klitschko. Many scoffed at the notion of any heavyweight fight commanding that sort of purse five years ago. Such an offer would be far more realistic today, though, given the lucrative nature of the buoyant heavyweight division.

Indeed, it could be argued that a fight between two men of the stature of Lewis and Wilder could command such a sum in today's climate. Unfortunately for Lennox, the division's most recent boom period arrived too late for him to even contemplate a return.

For now, he may just be content with not being confused with Deontay Wilder by the world's media.