Lennox Lewis is one of the greatest heavyweights to ever lace up the gloves.
The British-Canadian’s professional career was marked by skill, power and strategic dominance after winning Olympic gold for Canada in 1988.
‘The Lion’ quickly rose through the ranks to become the undisputed heavyweight champion and beat the likes of Evander Holyfield, who he claimed was his toughest opponent, plus Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko along the way.
Lewis retired in 2004 as one of the few heavyweight champions to hang up the gloves with no unavenged defeats after beating Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman following shock upset losses, and that has helped to cement his legacy as one of the best ever.
He was asked by Boxing News how current great Oleksandr Usyk would have got on in his era with the likes of Riddick Bowe, Holyfield and Tyson.
“I would have to compare him to Evander and I think he would have done very well.”
Holyfield and Usyk of course have plenty in common in that they were both undisputed cruiserweight champions who moved up in weight and also became undisputed heavyweight champions. Usyk completed that rare double in May when he beat Tyson Fury on points.
Lewis then claimed he had noticed something about Usyk’s style which means the Ukrainian would not have got on so well had they fought.
“I don’t think he would have lasted well against me because I throw a mean uppercut in there and I noticed he gets caught with uppercuts so he wouldn’t have been able to stand up to my uppercuts.”
Usyk will be hoping to repeat his victory over Fury when the pair rematch in December for three of the four major world titles after the IBF was vacated and has since been claimed by Daniel Dubois.
