Tony Bellew believes WBA Super, WBO and IBF king Anthony Joshua is the best athlete in the heavyweight division since the great Lennox Lewis.
Three-time champion Lewis reigned in the 1990s and early 2000s, radically altering the perception of the ‘horizontal’ British heavyweight and paving the way for the celebrated champions of today.
With Joshua’s mega-fight against WBC king Tyson Fury nearing a confirmed fight date in Saudi Arabia on August 14, former cruiserweight champion turned analyst Bellew says both men are training feverishly in anticipation of a career-defining showdown.
“These guys are training like animals, believe you me. I know AJ is for the absolute fact,” Bellew told Talksport.
“AJ is the best athlete the heavyweight division has seen since Lennox Lewis, he is that good of an athlete. So he is 365 days of the year, in shape and in camp.
“For Fury, he likes to get ready before the fight and he will be in camp. But he is not [training] in [Las] Vegas through choice; he is in Vegas because that is where the camp is set up.
“That’s where SugarHill [Steward] will want him; SugarHill is a brilliant coach, trained by the legend that is his uncle the great Emanuel Steward. So these guys have got it all to do, I just can’t wait until we get it finally done. Put them face-to-face, at the press conference and let the circus begin.”
