Lennox Lewis has named who he thinks is the heavyweight good enough to become his successor to the undisputed throne.
Lewis hung up the gloves in 2003 with a record of 41 wins from 44 fights. He righted the wrongs of his losses against Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman in rematches, and became the undisputed champion of the division. It’s no surprise some consider him the greatest of all time.
Two men are currently trying to emulate his championship run – Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. Following Fury’s beating of Derek Chisora, it looks like a fight between the pair is on the horizon, with the Brit’s WBC belt on the line against the Ukrainian’s WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring.
Lewis was asked by BT Sport who he favoured in the fight should it happen, and he was clear in his response.
“It has to be Tyson Fury right now. He’s been doing a lot of masterclasses recently, he’s got a great trainer, he uses the jab well, he boxes orthodox or southpaw and he’s just an exciting fighter.
I love when he fights, he’s entertaining and a warrior.”
Thankfully for fans, the often unpredictable Fury did make his interest in the Usyk fight clear post-Chisora fight, and it looks to be set up for late February or early March in Saudi Arabia.
For ‘The Gypsy King’ it would give him a chance to put his name in the history books alongside Lewis, something many believe he’s keen to do despite claiming he’s unconcerned with legacy.
In the other corner, a win for Usyk would make him only the second man in the sport to go undisputed at cruiserweight and then heavyweight – the first being Evander Holyfield.
We expect a further announcement on the match up to come towards the end of the year.