Lennox Lewis sees Oleksandr Usyk as a worthy successor as the “great” heavyweight world champion.
Usyk became the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Lewis won his first fight against Tyson Fury in 2024.
The Ukrainian remains undefeated and has established himself as one of the best heavyweights of his time with two wins over Fury, two wins over Anthony Joshua and two wins over Daniel Dubois.
Upon seeing Usyk in the camp, Lewis confirms that he is the worthy heir. “Yes, Oleksandr Usyk is a great champion and a great person. He trains hard,” Lewis said. sky sports.
“He’s done everything. He’s made sacrifices. He’s got a great family and he deserves the flowers.”
Usyk is in the final stages of his career as he fights box kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven in an unusual WBC title fight in Egypt. However, it is difficult for a champion, especially a heavyweight champion, to remain retired.
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In 2000, Lennox Lewis won his homecoming match in spectacular fashion by slamming Frans Botha into the ropes with a brutal combination.
Fury, in particular, has retired several times and then promptly un-retired.
One of the sport’s greats, Lewis achieved everything there was to do in sport. But it was difficult for him to refuse to return.
“There were many times I wanted to get back in the ring, but focus and discipline held me back,” Lewis said.
“I will tell you it was hard. I wanted to retire and never come back and it was hard to get out of the ring. HBO gave me a job as a commentator and I was back in front of boxing trying to get out of boxing.
“I said I had already done everything and didn’t need to prove anything anymore. So I didn’t box.”
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He achieved a high performance by defeating Vitali Klitschko, who would later become the reigning heavyweight champion, in a hard-fought battle.
“My trainer Emanuel (steward) said, ‘Listen, you can win the present and the future with this fight,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ll take it.’ It wasn’t a good fight, but I still won.”
Lewis could certainly be satisfied with being the best heavyweight of his time. “That was my goal. I said from the moment I started boxing that I wanted to be the best heavyweight,” he said.
“I wanted to be at the top like Muhammad Ali and win all the awards: Europe, England, this, me, as long as I won them all.”
