Lennox Lewis believes boxing has a place for fights that are purely for entertainment purposes.
Jake Paul and Mike Tyson recently attracted 60 million people to Netflix for their clash on November 15.
Unsurprisingly, the 27-year-old internet celebrity, who is more than three decades younger than ‘Iron Mike’, walked away with a unanimous decision victory that left some fans feeling like they had been shortchanged.
Now former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has commented on the matchup.
Lennox Lewis talks novelty fights vs real boxing
Lennox Lewis believes fights like Paul vs Tyson do nothing to harm the reputation of boxing.
The 59-year-old insists that they can co-exist alongside serious fights for world honors.
Lewis used the upcoming three-belt rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, which will take place in Saudia Arabia on December 21, to make his point.
“To me, you’re talking about different events,” he told The Mirror.
“You’re talking about an event for fans of Tyso to actually see him back in the ring, and fans of YouTuber, to see him in the ring with Tyson.
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“At the end of the day, you’ve got a big event that a lot of people were happy to attend, and they felt OK. The boxing purists didn’t feel OK, they didn’t feel it was the right thing to do. They were two different events.”
“Then you’ve got the real event which is the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world, where the two best fighters in the world actually meet and box and we can actually see who is the best out of the two, and who is the king of heavyweight boxing at the moment.
“That type of boxing doesn’t tarnish great boxing such as Usyk and Fury, because you’ve got two different types of eras and things going on. You’ve got entertainment and you’ve got real good fighting with drama.”
Lennox Lewis offered bizarre comeback fight
Lennox Lewis hasn’t fought professionally since beating Vitali Klitschko in July 2003.
Amid the rise of crossover boxing, ‘The Lion’ has flirted with the idea of making a return to the ring.
Now he’s been offered the chance to avenge Mike Tyson by taking on Jake Paul in a bizarre tag-team match.
“Since we’re in this social media era, the era of influencer boxing, big names make big events. What bigger names are there than Roy Jones and Jake Paul?” Roy Jones Jr said.
“I would most definitely (do a tag-team match against Jake Paul and Logan Paul). That idea sounds great to me. I’d probably choose Lennox Lewis as my partner. Lennox is a big heavyweight and both those brothers are big heavyweights.
“Lennox was a heavyweight champion, and I was a heavyweight champion. But I was never a true heavyweight. So if I’m going to fight two heavyweights why not give me a heavyweight too?” Jones Jr offered.
