A great debate opened up on Lennox Lewis in the wake of Tyson Fury putting Dillian Whyte in his place at a capacity Wembley Stadium on Pay Per View.
“The Gypsy King” took Whyte out with a devastating ‘uppercut Lennox Lewis would have been proud of,’ to quote the words of Fury himself.
But placing Fury in the same bracket as Lewis as an all-time great is now under the conversational banner amongst fans and media.
One man with a fighter in a similar situation is Eddie Hearn. The promoter of Anthony Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion with a questionable C.V., believes Fury has to do more.
“Tyson Fury is very popular at the moment. Anything negative you say about him won’t go down very well,” Hearn told The DAZN Boxing Show.
LENNOX LEWIS
“But please, with victories over [Deontay] Wilder, [Wladimir] Klitschko, and Whyte, please do not talk about him being in the same breath as [Muhamed] Ali, [Joe] Frazier, and Lennox Lewis.
“If he beat AJ and Usyk, I’d give him all the respect of being up there with Lewis.”
Hearn then said Joshua should be up there too if those victories get heralded.
“If we’re giving Fury that kind of credit for those wins, please give AJ the same credit. He beat two of those three.
“The jury is out on Wilder. He may go on to do great things, but his biggest win was against Luis Ortiz.”
Queensberry
On Fury possibly retiring, Hearn concluded: “I will say that Tyson Fury is a great bluff merchant. And he isn’t retiring.
“The biggest fights for Fury haven’t happened yet. And I will say one thing again: he’s the best heavyweight on the planet right now. I’ll give him that.
“When we talk about generational greatness, he could be great for this exact generation.”
GREATEST
Ishe Smith has already cut down any talk of Fury being the most significant heavyweight ever. That absurd claim got made by an MMA reporter in the aftermath.
“I’ll say this again and again, Muhammad Ali is the greatest heavyweight of all time.
“Every time someone does something great in this era, they are crowned the best ever. I’m a Fury fan, but GOAT is really debatable.
“Better than Ali, Lewis, Foreman, y’all forget about those before.”
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN us on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.