Will AJ be remembered for what he won or how much money he made?
LEWIS HITS BACK AFTER JOSHUA ‘CLOWN’ JIBE
LENNOX LEWIS claims Anthony Joshua has not learnt enough because his rise to the top has been so quick.
Joshua blasted out all his victims to become the WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight king within four years of turning pro.
But he was sensationally dethroned by Andy Ruiz in June and Lewis feels he has not properly honed his boxing skills ahead of tomorrow’s rematch in Riyadh.
“His people spread the narrative that I’m jealous because he’s more famous than me and because he won the world title faster than me,” said the former undisputed world heavyweight champion.
“Yeah, he won it fast, but what did you learn on the way up? I’ve always said you can knock everyone out, but when you can’t any more, you’d better be ready to box. Who’s his mentor? Who can he talk to about real boxing? Tell me, who in his team knows the history of boxing?”
Lewis famously won his rematch with Hasim Rahman in 2001 after his shock loss and says Joshua must move better if he is going to get his revenge against Ruiz. “He will have a different mindset,” he told the Undefeated Podcast.
“His mindset will be not to allow Ruiz to hurt him, not to let himself be in that position to be hurt. There will be a little bit of movement from him I would imagine.”
Relations between the two greats are at a low after Joshua angered Lewis by branding him “a clown.”
Lewis hit back, claiming Joshua’s legacy will be the millions he made rather than the belts he won.
“When AJ says Lennox Lewis is a clown, everybody is allowing him to say I’m a clown but not asking him why,” he said. “The question has to be why would you say that? Why would you say that about the last undisputed champion?A legend.
“Will he be remembered for what he’s done or for how much money he’s made? That’s just a simple question, yes or no.”
Lewis blames promoter Eddie Hearn for turning Joshua against him, saying Joshua has repeatedly snubbed him. He says Joshua asked for his help when he was turning pro only to then blank his offer.
He then snubbed him and ex-champion Evander Holyfield when they tried to congratulate him after his win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017. “We were outside the dressing room,” he said. “We wanted to big him up after he had beaten the big man.
“Security brushed us out of the way and brushed him in. I thought ‘OK, they don’t want me around. That was definitely the promoter.”