Lennox Lewis’ Thoughts on AJ & Wilder

[jamamb]

i think, to let lewis continue, you really have to be willing to place faith that hed be fine, despite not showing promising signs

because i didnt think he really showed at all that he was in condition to continue, falling into the ref and using him as support to stay upright is not really a good move to convince that your ready to go again

george grroves got to his feet in the froch rematch too and complained at the stoppage like lewis did. he actually was probably more stable then lewis

[mickey1975]

Lennox needed Big Terry those nights and he’d have still been unbeaten.

[bigjack]

Lennox needed Big Terry those nights and he’d have still been unbeaten.

Or Mr Foster,stopped both because he feared Rahman and McCall would break their right hands.

[lillywhite14]

On form Lennox dispatches the best versions of Joshua, Wilder & Fury on the same night. All by knockout

[bripez]

As long as it wasn’t the McCall or Rahman nights!

The rahman rematch Lewis would give a tremendous beating to Joshua and Wilder on the same night

For me, Lewis on his Rahman II nights - the GOAT

Showed real champions heart - getting sparked and then coming back like he did.

I don’t know the order, but Lewis has deffo got to be in my top 10 heavyweights

[TheLeprechaun]

On form Lennox dispatches the best versions of Joshua, Wilder & Fury on the same night. All by knockout

Wilder goes in 2. Joshua in 1. Fury in 3.

[Nightmare Roy]

Who knows what the truth is, only thing I know is that all this fannying about makes the fighters and their promoters look like a proper bunch of melts

[Boxerbeetle]

The rahman rematch Lewis would give a tremendous beating to Joshua and Wilder on the same night

For me, Lewis on his Rahman II nights - the GOAT

Showed real champions heart - getting sparked and then coming back like he did.

I don’t know the order, but Lewis has deffo got to be in my top 10 heavyweights

Anyone who doesn’t have Lewis in their top 10 heavyweights is totally deluded imo

[Boxerbeetle]

Although I am a huge fan, got to love the way that Lewis is now dishing out sage advice on making big fights happen via Twitter, considering the Bowe fight never happened and the Tyson fight happened 10 years too late

[Nightmare Roy]

Although I am a huge fan, got to love the way that Lewis is now dishing out sage advice on making big fights happen via Twitter, considering the Bowe fight never happened and the Tyson fight happened 10 years too late

Bowe's arse went and so did Don King's regarding Tyson, Lewis would have fought either at anytime.

[Boxerbeetle]

Although I am a huge fan, got to love the way that Lewis is now dishing out sage advice on making big fights happen via Twitter, considering the Bowe fight never happened and the Tyson fight happened 10 years too late

Bowe's arse went and so did Don King's regarding Tyson, Lewis would have fought either at anytime.

Yeah I know. But the irony remains that the fights fell through in negotiations many times, and this is what Lewis is now espousing his wisdom over, e.g. the below.

[Autobarn]

You’d hope Joshua v Wilder doesn’t go the way of Gamboa v Juanma, Donaire v Mares, Stevenson v Kovalev.

[Kit]

My opinion is that both sides could have done a lot more to get this done, if they really wanted it now.

Instead it seems to me like neither sides wanted it at this moment and were simply locked in a battle of not wanting to be the one to lose face.

If I had to side with either, their records don’t lie, look at Joshua’s resume compared to Wilders.

Wilder has talked about fighting big names while Joshua has actually fought bigger names in fewer fights and in lesser time.

[jamamb]

On form Lennox dispatches the best versions of Joshua, Wilder & Fury on the same night. All by knockout

Wilder goes in 2. Joshua in 1. Fury in 3.

ya but apparently lews was on vs rahman and that still went to the 4th

lenny had blast outs but also a share of ones that went on

at least one of those guys would go past 3 to me

[Ruthless-RKO]

[tiny_acres]

I wish Lewis could mediate this contract between both management teams.

[TheGman]

Ironic in a way though because if it was Lewis he’d have signed for the $50m and then gone to the US and knocked Wilder’s head off, earning big money and showing the US how you do it.

Lewis would have done both of them on the same night. Different level.

As long as it wasn’t the McCall or Rahman nights!

He did say go to the US and show them how its done,he lost to mcCall in the UK and Rahman in south africa then he took them both to the us and got revenge in front of their own ppl. Lewis on form would of beaten any heavy in history imho

[TheGman]

I keep changing my mind on who is lying and who really wants the fight,just watched wilder in the brendon shaub show below the belt and what wilder says in completely true,he is the one shoutin his mouth off for the fight while AJ is doin little IFL interviews etc etc and saying if they offer me 50mill ill fight him,then eddie says its ok offering 50mil but were is the funds coming from now he is saying he didnt ask were the funds were coming from(sure i seen an IFL interview of him saying these exact words). If AJ really wants to fight wilder and unify all 4 belts then he has got to start shouting like he means it and do what calzaghe and Jones did and organise this fight between him and wilder,no middle men just the fighters,this is what wilder has been trying to do but AJ dont want no part of it cause if he did we would of geard from him,he says he is sick of talking about it? Wilder has been talking about it longer than AJ has and he is still talking about it but AJ is sick of talking about it lol organise the fight pussy. Reminds me of lewis vs bowe,lewis doing all the talking and bowe just didnt wanna know,he was that scared of fighting lewis he binned the wbc belt even though bowe would of probably beat lewis at that time

[jamamb]

talk is so easy

wilders talked his whole career yet it still took him 7 years to fight jason gavern. 10 years in bermane stivernes still top 2 for him. compare that to who ajs already fought at 4.5 years. even his back up to wilder is a consensus top 5 heavy

funny that wilder has just shouted his way into this reputation as the fearless guy whose just begging for the toughest fights. now he wants 50-50

[SMALL AXE1]

Hearn is not to be trusted.

[TheLeprechaun]

I keep changing my mind on who is lying and who really wants the fight,just watched wilder in the brendon shaub show below the belt and what wilder says in completely true,he is the one shoutin his mouth off for the fight while AJ is doin little IFL interviews etc etc and saying if they offer me 50mill ill fight him,then eddie says its ok offering 50mil but were is the funds coming from now he is saying he didnt ask were the funds were coming from(sure i seen an IFL interview of him saying these exact words). If AJ really wants to fight wilder and unify all 4 belts then he has got to start shouting like he means it and do what calzaghe and Jones did and organise this fight between him and wilder,no middle men just the fighters,this is what wilder has been trying to do but AJ dont want no part of it cause if he did we would of geard from him,he says he is sick of talking about it? Wilder has been talking about it longer than AJ has and he is still talking about it but AJ is sick of talking about it lol organise the fight pussy. Reminds me of lewis vs bowe,lewis doing all the talking and bowe just didnt wanna know,he was that scared of fighting lewis he binned the wbc belt even though bowe would of probably beat lewis at that time

Agreed. Hearn has been talking sh*t since the negotiations started. Offering a flat fee to Wilder when he knew Wilder wouldn't accept. That was a joke offer because he subsequently upped the offer. Offered Parker a percentage of I think 30% or so but wouldn't do that for Wilder. Different story when Joshua is going against Parker and walking into the ring heavy odds on at the bookies.

Then there was the 50 million where he actually had mugs on here convinced that Showtime and Haymon didn't have 50 million and writing essays about it. Hearn then comes out and says he never said that and he knows they have the money but they don't want it. Bragging about filing paperwork for Joshua not to get stripped and how Fury's team didn't file paperwork and got stripped. Then goes on to not file paperwork and then we get the Povetkin fight or be stripped routine. Another fight where Joshua walks into the ring as a 1/10 favourite.

Everyone outside of the UK can see what the deal is but Hearn and Joshua could come out and say they are not interested in the wilder fight for the moment and get fully supported on here with essays from posters about how right they are to follow their own destiny.

[MarkMcBurney]

I keep changing my mind on who is lying and who really wants the fight,just watched wilder in the brendon shaub show below the belt and what wilder says in completely true,he is the one shoutin his mouth off for the fight while AJ is doin little IFL interviews etc etc and saying if they offer me 50mill ill fight him,then eddie says its ok offering 50mil but were is the funds coming from now he is saying he didnt ask were the funds were coming from(sure i seen an IFL interview of him saying these exact words). If AJ really wants to fight wilder and unify all 4 belts then he has got to start shouting like he means it and do what calzaghe and Jones did and organise this fight between him and wilder,no middle men just the fighters,this is what wilder has been trying to do but AJ dont want no part of it cause if he did we would of geard from him,he says he is sick of talking about it? Wilder has been talking about it longer than AJ has and he is still talking about it but AJ is sick of talking about it lol organise the fight pussy. Reminds me of lewis vs bowe,lewis doing all the talking and bowe just didnt wanna know,he was that scared of fighting lewis he binned the wbc belt even though bowe would of probably beat lewis at that time

Agreed. Hearn has been talking sh*t since the negotiations started. Offering a flat fee to Wilder when he knew Wilder wouldn't accept. That was a joke offer because he subsequently upped the offer. Offered Parker a percentage of I think 30% or so but wouldn't do that for Wilder. Different story when Joshua is going against Parker and walking into the ring heavy odds on at the bookies.

Then there was the 50 million where he actually had mugs on here convinced that Showtime and Haymon didn't have 50 million and writing essays about it. Hearn then comes out and says he never said that and he knows they have the money but they don't want it. Bragging about filing paperwork for Joshua not to get stripped and how Fury's team didn't file paperwork and got stripped. Then goes on to not file paperwork and then we get the Povetkin fight or be stripped routine. Another fight where Joshua walks into the ring as a 1/10 favourite.

Everyone outside of the UK can see what the deal is but Hearn and Joshua could come out and say they are not interested in the wilder fight for the moment and get fully supported on here with essays from posters about how right they are to follow their own destiny.

You make some very valid points, however one area I would say Hearn perhaps is correct in, is the extension with the WBA. In his latest hour-long interview with Kugan, he says you have to have a signed contract in order for the WBA to effectively put Povetkin behind Wilder in the queue, and that he's asked for 7 day extensions ever since the Povetkin fight was first ordered, 7 weeks ago, and that the reason he can no longer ask for an exemption is that there is no such signed contract for Wilder/AJ. This I can 100% believe, and think the fact the WBA are tired of him pissing them about is no fault of his own.

The Wilder/AJ fight however, I'm not convinced that either side want it enough to just get the deal done. They both come out with arguments that appear valid (we offered Joshua $50m / we offered Wilder $15m - they both accepted blah blah blah) but ultimately here we are with no deal in place, despite being told that both sides had 'accepted' the offer from the other. Without hearing Wilder/Finkel's side of things there are a couple of things that Hearn has said that are interesting; firstly that when the $50m 'offer' was made, he asked for a contract, which they refused to send. Why? Secondly he said a contract was sent to Finkel for the 'accepted' offer of $15m, but it was a week later that Finkel said he would send his reply a further week later. Surely if they wanted the fight they'd move a bit quicker than 2 weeks for feedback on a contract, given they know the WBA are pressing the issue?

If either side genuinely just said 'get it done', I think it would be signed now. Ultimately I'm not sure either side (not the fighters themselves) really want it on anything other than their own terms, which is never going to happen.

[Tuan_Jim]

Although I am a huge fan, got to love the way that Lewis is now dishing out sage advice on making big fights happen via Twitter, considering the Bowe fight never happened and the Tyson fight happened 10 years too late

Bowe's arse went and so did Don King's regarding Tyson, Lewis would have fought either at anytime.

Unfair. They signed to fight in 94. It would have taken place in 95 on TVKO. Everything was set; all they had to do is come through Larry Donald and Oliver McCall respectively...

Again Bowe tried arrange a mega fight, in 96 for his WBO title--Lewis opted instead to fight Ray Mercer for 10% of what he would have made vs Bowe. HBO were mystified. I'm not insinuating Lewis was scared, but with Tyson mega millions up for grabs Lewis preferred to make his case with a dramatic KO of Mercer and defer a lucrative but risky Bowe fight till later. In both the above cases, things went awry.

[TheGman]

Although I am a huge fan, got to love the way that Lewis is now dishing out sage advice on making big fights happen via Twitter, considering the Bowe fight never happened and the Tyson fight happened 10 years too late

Bowe's arse went and so did Don King's regarding Tyson, Lewis would have fought either at anytime.

Unfair. They signed to fight in 94. It would have taken place in 95 on TVKO. Everything was set; all they had to do is come through Larry Donald and Oliver McCall respectively...

Again Bowe tried arrange a mega fight, in 96 for his WBO title--Lewis opted instead to fight Ray Mercer for 10% of what he would have made vs Bowe. HBO were mystified. I'm not insinuating Lewis was scared, but with Tyson mega millions up for grabs Lewis preferred to make his case with a dramatic KO of Mercer and defer a lucrative but risky Bowe fight till later. In both the above cases, things went awry.

No way,lewis vs bowe in 96 wasnt gonna happen,bowe didnt want any part of lennox lewis at any time in the pro's if he did then he would of fought him at the peak of his powers in 1992 after beating holyfield rather than 96 after getting his ass handed to him twice by golota,bowe at the point in 1996 was a shadow of the man who challenged evander for the undesputed heavyweight title so why would lewis duck him for a hard fight against mercer(which i thought he lost)? Bowe didnt wanna know lewis at any point from 1988 till he retired

[TheGman]

Although I am a huge fan, got to love the way that Lewis is now dishing out sage advice on making big fights happen via Twitter, considering the Bowe fight never happened and the Tyson fight happened 10 years too late

Hey man it wasnt Lewis' fault for the tyson fight,don king and tyson payed lewis step aside money because lewis was wbc no.1 contender to bruno's title which tyson took the he wanted bruce seldon's wba title so lewis had to wait then tyson got sparked by holyfield and while all this was taking place lewis was fighting king through the courts cause he was no.1 contender and he was getting frozen out by king,as for bowe didnt you see the video were he threw the wbc belt in the bin and call lewis a bin dipper if he fought for the wbc? So were in all this is it lewis fault that these two fights didnt happen at that time?