Usyk became the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Lewis when he won his first fight with Tyson Fury in 2024.
The Ukrainian remains unbeaten and has established himself as the best heavyweight of his era with two wins over Fury, two wins over Anthony Joshua and two wins over Daniel Dubois.
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Lewis, who’s seen Usyk in camp, identifies him as a worthy heir. “Yes. Oleksandr Usyk is a great champion, a great person, he trains hard,” Lewis told Sky Sports.
“He’s done it all. He’s sacrificed. He’s got a great family and he deserves his flowers.”
Usyk is in the closing stages of his career, due to box kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven in an unusual WBC title fight in Egypt. But it is hard for champions, especially heavyweight champions, to stay retired.
Fury notably has retired and promptly unretired multiple times.
One of the greats of the sport, Lewis had accomplished everything there was to do in the sport. But even for him it was difficult to resist making a comeback.
“Many times I felt like jumping back in the ring. But focus, discipline kept me out,” Lewis said.
“Let me tell you it was hard. I wanted to retire and say I’m not coming back and it was hard to stay out of the ring. HBO gave me a job as a commentator and I was there in front of boxing again and I was trying to get away from boxing.
“I said I’ve done everything already, I don’t need to prove anything anymore. So I stayed out of boxing.”
He finished on a high note, beating Vitali Klitschko, who would later become a dominant heavyweight champion, in a violent battle.
“My trainer Emanuel [Steward] said ‘listen, you can beat the present and the future with this fight’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ll take it.’ It wasn’t a pretty fight but I still won,” he said.
Lewis could certainly be satisfied with having become the best heavyweight of his era. “That was my aim. From when I started boxing I said I wanted to be the greatest heavyweight,” he said.
“I wanted to be just like Muhammad Ali and win all the accolades along by getting up to the top, so if it was European, if it was British, if it was this, if it was that, as long as I won them all.”
