The last man to be crowned undisputed heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis, has explained with trademark confidence why it was a much harder task in his era.
Lewis competed in one of the great heavyweight eras’, with rivals including Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe.
‘The Lion’ became undisputed way back in 1999 when he defeated Holyfield in a rematch after a controversial draw in their first encounter, where the vast majority of fans had the Brit a clear winner on the scorecards.
Boxing’s blue ribbon division looked set to crown its first ever four belt king, as Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk seemed to be a formality.
However, just as it looked like an announcement was imminent the fight fell apart over rematch financials, and the wait for the man to replicate Lewis’ achievement goes on.
Lewis reacted to the news of the collapse by saying the two are playing a dangerous game.
I don’t understand how this crop isn’t hungry to make history. The money will ALWAYS be there and if they protect it, will be more than they could ever need. I think they’re building up to a big fight in Dec… but if they play the cards wrong, it could come all crashing down.
And the heavyweight great wasn’t being particularly modest when stating that becoming undisputed in his era was tougher… as you had to get through him.
“I would say it doesn’t matter how many belts because becoming undisputed in my era was much harder because u had to come see me.”
I would say it doesn’t matter how many belts because becoming undisputed in my era was much harder because u had to come see me. 👊🏾💥 https://t.co/OSw479oiWi
— Lennox Lewis, CBE, CM (@LennoxLewis) April 2, 2023
Whether we will see Fury vs Usyk at some point in the future remains to be seen, with the Ukrainian looking set to start fulfilling his mandatory obligations whilst ‘The Gypsy King’ has gone unusually quiet since the fall out.