Lennox Lewis has opened up on his strained relationship with Anthony Joshua.
Joshua has been critical of the last unified heavyweight world champion, branding him "a clown" earlier this year.
And as the Brit bids to win back his three heavyweight world titles against Andy Ruiz Jr on Saturday, Lewis has explained how their relationship deteriorated.
"He turned pro and he was saying I was his favourite boxer," he told the Undefeated podcast. "He asked what I should do and I said come out to Jamaica and we'll talk.
"We talked about my career and he loved hearing about my career and everything I'd gone through.
"I said I'd love to help him, I didn't want to be his promoter but I had a lot of knowledge in my head that I could teach him.
"He said he wanted me to help him... then I didn't hear from him again. He picked some other people to help him and that was it.
"I went to one of his fights and he did great and sometimes i saw him in London and he said he would give me a call but I never heard from him.
"So it was a shock to see him on TV saying I didn't phone him; my number hasn't changed, his has changed five times."
Lewis also revealed he tried to congratulate Joshua after his win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 - but was denied access by his team, which he blames on promoter Eddie Hearn.
"Me and [Evander] Holyfield were there for German TV," he added. "We were outside the dressing room; we wanted to big him up as the first champion after the Olympics.
"We'd watched him knock everyone out and now he's beaten the big man and we wanted to congratulate him.
"Security brushed us out of the way and brushed him in there and he was like, 'Lenn...' but they pushed him in.
"They didn't want me around, they didn't want me near him. It was definitely the promoter [who orchestrated that]."
