Lennox Lewis is ready pass on his mantle as the last undisputed world heavyweight champion when Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk clash in Riyadh on Saturday.
Unbeaten rivals Fury and Usyk are fighting to become the division’s first ruler since Lewis toppled Evander Holyfield in 1999 before being stripped of the WBA title the following year.
On top of that slice of history, the winner at a sold-out Kingdom Arena will also become the first undisputed heavyweight king of the four-belt era.
Lewis retired as one of the all-time greats in 2004 and is ready to see what he regards as the greatest achievement of his career finally emulated by one of his successors.
“I will feel very good because I make these things for other people to conquer. I break records for other people to come back and break,” Lewis said.
“Records are always going to break. I don’t know if they’ll beat the fastest man in the world right now but he has a record and everybody is looking to break it – and somebody will break it.
“There’s a high school kid coming up right now who is beating his (Usain Bolt’s) high school records.
“That was my main aim, to be undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and I accomplished it.
“A lot of people out there weren’t looking at it – they got five belts and said they were undisputed, but I had the only three that mattered. The other ones I gave back.”
I break records for other people to come back and break— Lennox Lewis
Lewis is backing a slimmed down Fury to outpoint Usyk in an eagerly-awaited showdown as long as he capitalises on his considerable advantages in weight and height.
“We will see both versions of Fury. The one who outboxed Wladimir Klitschko and the one who walked Deontay Wilder down and knocked him out,” he said.
“He has to switch his style. He has different styles and he can switch to the one that is working for him, whether that’s southpaw or orthodox. The fact he can switch around is excellent.
“How I would box him is just back Usyk up against the ropes with his jab and keep him against the ropes. What happens is Usyk will get nervous, try moving side to side and waste a lot of energy.
“He should also be using his size and leaning on Usyk – that’s very important. It worked against Deontay Wilder and most guys out there. If Usyk allows that then it’s going to be a hard fight for him.
“It will be like a chess match for the first four rounds and then in the middle rounds we’re going to get a lot of action. In the late rounds we’ll see who the winner is.
“You’ve got two undefeated guys boxing who don’t know what a loss is and there can only be one winner in the fight.
“They will pull out all the stops to try and win this fight, doing whatever they need to do.”
* 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
