By: Sean Crose
If anyone knows a thing or two about high level championship boxing, it’s one Lennox Lewis, the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, as well as an all time great. Now long retired, Lewis’ opinion carries weight when he speaks about the contemporary boxing scene. Needless to say, the man has interesting things to say about the upcoming rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, which will go down in Saudi Arabia on December 21t.
On a recent interview with Fight News, Lewis weighed in on the fact that Fury, who lost a squeaker to Usyk on the cards their first fight, claimed he won’t change much about his approach for the second fight. All he needs, he argues, is to do more of the same, just at a higher volume. Lewis isn’t buying it.
“No, it’s not as simple as that,” said Lewis. “He (Fury) does need to make some adjustments. If he didn’t make any adjustments, then he would lose the fight again. He would have to make some adjustments to win the fight, so he definitely has to go in there with a focused attitude and being able to throw a lot more punches.” The truth, however, is that Lewis isn’t sold on the argument that Fury is simply going to do more of the same in his rematch with Usyk.
“I don’t think he wants to give too much away,” Lewis admitted, “and I think we’re going to get a different Tyson for this fight. I think he realizes what he did wrong in the first fight.” With an ability to fight expertly as both a defensive and an offensive fighter, Fury is indeed a man with numerous tools in his toolbox. Will they be enough to best Usyk, though?
Although smaller than the towering Fury, Usyk is a profoundly skilled fighter. What’s more, he has a history of doing well against bigger men. Not only has he bested Fury in the ring, Usyk has also handily defeated former world titlist Anthony Joshua on not one, but two occasions. When asked how Usyk would do well in Lewis’ time, Lewis made it clear the undefeated Usyk would fit in well. “He would have got on good,” Lewis said of Usyk. “Just look at how Evander Holyfield got on.” Holyfield, like Usyk, successfully made the jump from cruiserweight to heavyweight during his career.
Suffice to say, Lewis defeated Holyfield in November of 1999 after fighting the popular titlist to an extremely controversial draw the previous March.