Most believe that Tyson Fury is one or two fights away from cementing his status as the best heavyweight of a generation – but how would he stack up against a top dog that came before him?
Lennox Lewis was the last undisputed champion of the big men – a feat Fury has so far been unable to accomplish. After a Gold medal at the Olympics, ‘The Lion’ turned pro and won his first 25 bouts before a shock loss to Oliver McCall.
He would avenge that later, as he did with his only other loss to Hasim Rahman, and hung up the gloves with a record of 41-2-1.
Asked on his YouTube channel about a fantasy fight between Lewis and the undefeated Fury, Carl Froch picked past to beat present.
“Lennox Lewis. And the reason I was hesitant is because Fury’s obviously big enough, and skilful enough, and light enough on his feet with fast enough combinations to give anybody a hard fight.
But I think Lennox Lewis – especially the prime Lewis that smashed Andrew Galota down to the floor, rematched Hasim Rahman after getting chinned and was in there with the best of the best.”
For Froch, it comes down to resume – something he recently criticised Fury for.
“Maybe he got a couple of opponents just past their best, Mike Tyson just on the slide. But Lewis has got a far better resume. He’s an all-time great, if not the great from Britain. Unified heavyweight champion.
And like I said last week, Tyson Fury, you look at his resume, okay he’s a brilliant fighter and potentially one of the best especially if he beats Usyk and gets a fight with Anthony Joshua. But at the minute, looking at the record, Lewis beats Tyson Fury.”
He broke down the fight, predicting a stoppage or ‘domination.’
“If he doesn’t knock him out, he dominates him with combination punches. Too strong. Too big. Puts him on his back foot and hurts him and gets him beat up for a points decision. I think Tyson Fury would be in survival mode, boxing on his back foot trying to out-hustle him. Lewis would close the range using his size and strength and belt him with that big right hand.”
The match-up is resigned to being that of fantasy – something many fans are beginning to feel about a fight with fellow champion Oleksandr Usyk or domestic rival Anthony Joshua.