LONDON -- An American boxing judge won a libel suit Friday against a British tabloid newspaper, which alleged she may have taken money to score in favor of Evander Holyfield in his heavyweight title bout against Lennox Lewis.

The fight on March 13, 1999, was ruled a draw. Lewis won a rematch later that year.

A British trial court awarded Eugenia Williams "substantial damages" from the Mirror Group Newspapers. The exact sum was not disclosed.

The newspaper group also apologized to the American judge and was ordered to pay her court costs.

"I was horrified by the Sunday Mirror's false accusations and am delighted that the Sunday Mirror have now accepted their allegations were untrue and have apologized to me," Williams said.

The Sunday Mirror, in a front-page headline on March 21, 1999, suggested Williams had received thousands of dollars to score in favor of Holyfield.

"The investigation into whether Lennox Lewis' world title fight was fixed has taken a sensational new twist," the newspaper wrote. "The Sunday Mirror can reveal that American judge Eugenia Williams ... who astonished the world by scoring the match in Evander Holyfield's favor, has two secret bank accounts with a total of $30,000 in them."

Williams' lawyer, Charlotte Watson, called the allegations "a devastating blow to the reputation of propriety and integrity, which Ms. Williams until then had earned and enjoyed in her career as a boxing judge and in her personal life."