Before Oleksandr Usyk thumped Tyson Fury to take the crown as the undisputed boxing heavyweight champion, there was Lennox Lewis who laid siege to the heavyweight division, dispatching opponents with an iron fist. Paying homage to the former undisputed champion, Shaquille O’Neal put out a story post, appreciating the Brit’s dominant tenure.
The former LA Lakers player recently shared an IG reel with a simple caption, deeming Lewis the “most underrated champion.” While the world knows champs like Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, Lewis’ resume might drop your jaw because he might as well be the heavyweight division’s god of war!
‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Riddick Bowe all fell to ‘The Lion,’ getting brutally mauled during his reign of terror. Though Lewis ultimately lost the belt to Hasim Rahman in a stunning upset, he proved to the world that he was truly unmatched when in the zone.
In fact, to date, Lewis remains the only heavyweight champion in the history of the sport to avenge all of his professional losses. Now, that is one stat even the ‘GOAT’ Ali doesn’t have!
‘The Lion’ has now retired and is way past his prime, but he remains active around the sport as a renowned commentator and analyst. Reflecting on the recent super fight between Usyk and Fury, Lewis shared his thoughts, criticizing Fury heavily.
Lennox Lewis criticizes Fury for “boxing like he won the fight”
Tyson Fury genuinely believed he had done enough to become the next undisputed heavyweight champion in his fight against Oleksandr Usyk. However, it was Usyk’s left hook that ultimately decided the outcome, and Fury was left biting the dust.
Lewis was quite critical of ‘The Gypsy King’s’ attitude and claimed he needed to take things more seriously. He even went so far as to claim that Fury was fighting Usyk as if he had won the fight before it was even over. Considering how close the fight was, Lewis doubled down on this point while talking to DAZN Boxing, and said,
“No boxer can judge and say they won the fight. Every time a round was close they should look at it like a loss.”
The ex-champion certainly has a point here. It can be argued that if Fury went for the kill instead of showboating, he could have flipped the script and become the first undisputed champion after Lewis.
