‘I’m heavyweight boxing’s final undisputed champ – I’d nonetheless be king now’

Lennox Lewis insists there won’t be a hint of sadness when he loses the crown of being the last undisputed heavyweight champion in Saudi Arabia next weekend.

The plan is for the British star to present the WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC belts to the winner of Tyson Fury against Oleksandr Usyk in the Middle East. It will be a symbolic moment as, for the first time in 25 years, one man will be taking over from Lewis as the last to be considered, without any doubt, the best fighter in the sport’s glamour division.

Thanks to boxing politics then it wouldn’t be surprising if there is a similarly long wait for the next one to take over from the winner of next Saturday’s showdown.

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“I would be delighted that there is another one because records are there to be broken,” said Lewis. “I’m going to be happy that I’ve held it for this length of time, now I challenge the other heavyweight to hold his for the length of time I did.

“Being undisputed champion is so difficult. By the time you sit down and are enjoying it, there’s three [now four] people that are saying ‘I can beat you’ and there’s three [now four] belts saying ‘you have to box this guy or that guy’.

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“There’s a whole bunch of confusion and in order to satisfy all the belts you have to talk to them and arrange it, make sure they’re feeling happy about you representing their belt for a long time.”

That’s boxing and the winner of Fury and Usyk will hold on to all four belts for about five minutes. The IBF are primed and ready to strip the winner given there is a rematch clause and neither man will be free to defend the belt against their mandatory challenger next.

“The promoters want there to be belts out there for their boxers to have so they’re able to promote and say ‘hey he’s universal champion’ and I’m like ‘What’s universal champion?’,” said Lewis. “Where do they come with these remarks. It’s either undisputed or that. There’s no universal champion, I don’t know where that came from or whatever term they use.

“To me it is all about money. I understand it is business but tell the truth, don’t put the facade in there, wipe it away and tell the truth. Tell it how it really is.”

Lewis knows it all too well. When he beat Evander Holyfield at the second attempt in 1999 at the Thomas and Mack Center, the WBA, IBF and WBC belts were all draped over him. Back then the WBO wasn’t considered a serious title.

But within weeks, he had lost the WBA belt without stepping in the ring as he was stripped for failing to fight John Ruiz next when Don King took the matter to a hearing.

Still, there was no denying that Lewis had become king of the era and he solidified his position by beating Mike Tyson three years later.

“Everything I did was leading up to this point, I wanted to be Olympic champion so I went back twice to the Olympics,” said Lewis, who won gold at Seoul in 1988 for Canada. “I wanted to be British champion, I wanted to be European champion, I wanted to be world champion, and my last thing was undisputed champion.

“Once I won undisputed champion, I could rest. But I waited for Tyson so there will be no argument about who will be the best in this era.

“I didn’t want anyone to be sitting in the barbers having an argument saying ‘who was the best? Tyson, Holyfield or Lewis? I ended my career showing the whole world that I am the best of that era. Even now I’m listening to promoters and boxers talk saying ‘oh there was a champion 25 years ago’.

“They’ve forgotten my name. It was me. Lennox Lewis. I was the world champion, I’m the undisputed champion and I’ve been the undisputed champion for 25 years.”

Now the undefeated duo of Fury and Usyk get that chance next weekend in Saudi Arabia. But the man who will be handing the winner of the belts, still thinks he would be king if he was still around now. “Absolutely,” he said.

Watch Fury v Usyk, ‘Ring of Fire’ live from Riyadh on TNT Sports Box Office on Saturday 18 May. For more info visit: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice