Lennox Lewis, the last undisputed heavyweight champion, would fancy his chances against the man who is potentially next up in Tyson Fury.
Lewis unified his WBC title against Evander Holyfield’s WBA and IBF titles back in 1999, becoming the division’s sole champion in their second fight after a controversial draw in the first.
He would fight on seven more occasions, defeating Mike Tyson, Vitali Klitschko and Hasim Rahman – after losing their initial bout – before hanging up the gloves for good.
Since then, a fourth world title – the WBO – has been recognised as major, and Tyson Fury is one fight away from getting a hold of that along with the WBA and IBF to join his – like Lewis’ – WBC.
The man who stands in his way – like Holyfield – is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion. Oleksandr Usyk is determined to dethrone Fury.
Before that can happen, Lewis stopped by his countryman’s next fight against Francis Ngannou in Riyadh to show his support.
Whilst in attendance, he was asked at the official Gala Dinner how he would beat Fury. Initially it could be summed up in one word – easily.
“That’s too much of an easy question to answer. It’s so easy I don’t wanna answer it. I’m the best, nobody can test, I lay them all to rest.”
Lewis then went on to say that he would take the action to the 277lbs champion, forcing him into a fight.
“For me to go against Tyson Fury, I would just go after him. I like going after big guys because I feel I can fight, so it’s gonna be a fight.”
That match-up is reserved to the fantasy section of the sport, but Fury-Usyk is not. Should ‘The Gypsy King’ beat Ngannou this weekend without injury, it’s looking like December 23 for one man to follow in the footsteps of Lewis.