Lennox Lewis believes Anthony Joshua is "disturbed and distressed" as the heavyweights' row escalated even further.
On a Sky Sports documentary screened on Thursday, Joshua called Lewis "a clown" following his comments about Joshua's shock defeat by Andy Ruiz Jr.
Lewis has also been critical of Joshua not agreeing terms with Deontay Wilder to unify the division before he lost his belts this summer.
The ring legend responded by saying he was disappointed with his fellow Olympic champion's comments.
And he has spoken out again to say he believes Joshua is going through a period of emotional turmoil.
"He’s disturbed right now," Lewis told iFL TV . "I'm not thinking about it, because these are things said out of distress. So I accept his apology ahead of time."
The former undisputed heavyweight champion also took to Twitter to say he is willing to settle the feud.
He wrote: "I don’t blame AJ as much as I blame the people around him that stoke the fires.
"I have remained at an arms distance from AJ to respect that he wants to make his own way. I’m sure he also gets sick of the constant comparisons to me over his entire career.
"He is the first AJ, not the next Lennox Lewis. Like I said, I won’t fall into that trap and be pitted against him. He has a watershed moment in his career coming up and all this only serves as a distraction by the media. Notice how they only led with his comments about me?
"AJ has my number if he ever wants to clarify what is being said in the media or show me where I'm wrong about something. My doors remain open to him, but just know that disrespect is not answer to his frustrations."
