Former undisputed heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis has been hitting the gym once more but has quashed any speculation of a dramatic comeback to boxing.
The British legend, who is set to turn 60 this September, hung up his gloves in 2003 following a victory over Vitali Klitschko. Throughout his illustrious career, Lewis notched up wins against formidable opponents such as Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Frank Bruno, and Shannon Briggs, boasting a professional tally of 41-2-1. Despite recent buzz around a possible rematch with Tyson—spurred by Tyson’s own return to the ring last month where he was defeated by Jake Paul—Lewis has dismissed such rumours.
Instead, he is keeping fit for personal reasons, stating: “Comeback? Nobody’s really made that offer to me to consider anything like coming back,” and adding, “I started training because I wanted to be in great shape by my (60th) birthday.”
These remarks from Lewis follow on from a hint at a potential return during a chat with TMZ, where he commented: “Let’s see how he makes out in this fight first. I have spoken to Mike, just about fighting. Let’s hope his health is ok. You can’t see things on the outside that may be affecting you on the inside. I wouldn’t want to say he is okay then all of a sudden something happens.”
Lewis, who was present for the face-off between Paul and Tyson, anticipates that the upcoming bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will be a completely different spectacle, untouched by the need for influencer fights. “To me you’re talking about different events – you’re talking about an event for fans of Tyson, to actually see him back in the ring, and fans of a YouTuber, to see him in the ring with Tyson,” Lewis, who is expected to be in Riyadh next weekend, he said.
“Then you’ve got the real event which is the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world, where the two best fighters in the world actually meet and box and we can actually see who is the best out of the two, and who is the king of heavyweight boxing at the moment. “That type of boxing doesn’t tarnish great boxing such as Usyk and Fury, because you’ve got two different types of eras and things going on. You’ve got entertainment, and you’ve got real good fighting with drama. At the end of the day you’ve got a big event that a lot of people were happy to attend, and they felt OK. The boxing purist didn’t feel OK, they didn’t feel it was the right thing to do. They were two different events.”
Watch Usyk v Fury Reignited 2 on TNT Sports Box Office. Coverage starts from 4pm on Saturday, December 21. Find out how you can watch at tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice
