As the last man to hold the undisputed heavyweight championship, Lennox Lewis was an interested bystander watching “Day of Reckoning” from a television studio in Canada.
Lewis, who retired 20 years ago after a hugely successful career that saw him claim Olympic gold in 1988 and beat the likes of Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko as a pro, was just as perplexed and disappointed as many of us with Deontay Wilder’s bizarre showing en route to losing a lackluster and lopsided 12-round unanimous decision against Joseph Parker.
“It looked like to me that Wilder wasn’t even focused on the fight,” Lewis (41-2-1, 32 knockouts) told The Ring. “I don’t know what he was focused on, (but) mentally he said it was the money. ‘They paid me, I wasn’t really ready but I came out and gave them this for a little money. It doesn’t matter what way it goes, I’m prepared for a loss, I’m prepared for a win. Let God decide.’ He lost his spark.
“I think trying to box at this stage is a mental thing for me because there are certain things you are supposed to learn on the way up and when you’ve knocked everybody out on the way up, then the mentality becomes if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Moreover, the iconic former champ feels that Wilder and his team could have been a little more acute and try to add to their arsenal.
“Get with someone who can make those powerful punches even more lethal by working on other stuff like a great uppercut, a great hook. Surprise them, they’re looking for the right hand, hit them with an uppercut, a hook,” he said. “I don’t think he was totally serious with that fight because you can look at the punch stats, and they’re not close to the (Tyson) Fury fight. This is a lesser man because his weight is not there, his punch count is not up to par, undoubtedly he didn’t take the fight that seriously.”
That said, Lewis felt the inactivity over the past few years greatly hindered “The Bronze Bomber.”
“I didn’t think he was going to step in the ring again,” said Lewis, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009. “When he took this fight, he had one round in two years against Robert Helenius, (and) that didn’t really show anything. It actually did him more harm because he needed the work in that fight. Now all of a sudden he’s come to a big fight and I know what (his team) did. I think his business mind took it because he was in no way prepared for Parker, not even with a warm-up fight. He said he’s not going to be rusty, he’s not Houdini, everybody gets rusty. What he’s saying didn’t really compute to me.
“Parker’s his last fight (a third-round knockout of Simon Kean in October) was amazing – the man looked good. He looked fierce and he’s got a great trainer (Andy Lee, an Emanuel Steward disciple.) (He) brought out a lot more confidence in his boxing, and more focus. I like what Parker’s done. If the guy is not throwing punches at you, make him pay and throw punches and combinations at him.”
In the other half of the main event things went according to plan, and Anthony Joshua easily dispatched Otto Wallin in five one-sided rounds.
While Lewis felt it was a good showing, he’s keen not to go overboard.
“Joshua lost (twice to Usyk) and he came back against (Jermaine) Franklin and Helenius,” he said. “Everyone is judging him and watching him closely. I look at Joshua and I’m like, ‘OK, he’s had a couple gimme fights, he doesn’t need any more gimme fights.’ He wants to test his skill, give him something. You cannot give scraps to a dog. This guy wants to go out there and prove himself. Allow him to (do it), don’t baby him.
“This last guy (Wallin), I don’t know how you’re picking your (opponents). (Joshua) sparred with him and he beat him, so he knows how he is and he beat him as an amateur, (his team is like) ‘this is the guy we should fight.’ No, that’s not the guy you should be fighting because you don’t get respect fighting those guys.
“This is Joshua’s third fight this year, he needs a good fight, Anthony has had a fight with a southpaw, now he’s had a fight with two southpaws, so he’s ready for those type of guys. Give him a fight he can sink his teeth into. I don’t think this was a good fight for him to say, ‘I’m back.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, you looked good, you’re back but you can beat a lot of other guys out there.’”
Lewis, now 58, felt this was a missed opportunity for Joshua to face Wilder.
“Look at what happened with the Deontay fight. You guys waited so long, now he got beat (and) the fights not a good fight anymore,” said Lewis. “I don’t know why he didn’t fight Deontay, this was the fight he should have fought Deontay.
“He needs to be fighting guys people can say, ‘That’s a good guy. You’re back on top.’ Not a guy that has no definition, doesn’t throw any punches and sinks to body punches. To me there’s nothing gained. It’s false security. Anybody can beat these guys (and) knock ’em out, but it didn’t do anything for you. Gain is when you conquer.
To that end, who would Lewis like to see Joshua fight now that the Wilder fight has gone up in smoke?
“Be a conqueror, beat the guy (Zhilei Zhang) that beat your fellow Englishman, Joe Joyce,” said Lewis. “The only new name is Frank Sanchez, that’s a good fight for him.
“The problem now, he’s going to be boxing the guys who are coming up, but his main competitors for more credibility are now Fury and Zhang. For me, boxing the guys who were coming up when I was there, I didn’t want that. I wanted guys who I could sink my teeth into, guys who would get me somewhere. Right now, (Joshua) is basically there waiting for a chance. They’re saying he’s got to keep busy but I’m like, this guy was supposed to be boxing for the championships a long time ago.”
