Lennox Lewis claims Tyson Fury will be fired up for his rematch with Deontay Wilder because he was robbed in their first fight.
Lewis knows the anger Fury felt at the highly-controversial draw 14 months ago because he was also the victim of some disgraceful judging in his first fight with Evander Holyfield in 1999.
That fight in Madison Square Garden was scored a draw, even though virtually everyone watching felt Lewis had won.
Lewis used this controversy as motivation for the rematch nine months later at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas and he won by a unanimous points decision.
“Absolutely, Fury will be feeling that injustice,” said the former world heavyweight king.
“Fury says he got ripped off so he believes it. He believes he won the fight so that’s got to give him confidence.
“I felt confident after my first fight with Holyfield. I knew I had to let everyone know who the best heavyweight was.
“I wanted to prove to everyone that I was the better man, and I did that.”
Lewis is not convinced by Fury’s claims that he can knock Wilder out to avoid suffering another controversial decision and feels he should stick to outboxing the WBC heavyweight champ.
“If Tyson Fury says he’s going to go out there and try and knock him out, he may try, but I think he’s going to resort to what he knows and that’s boxing,” he said.
“All of a sudden he says he’s going to go in against arguably the best heavyweight out there and knock him out, that’s a tall order.”
Lewis feels victory for Fury would confirm him as the division’s No 1 ahead of Anthony Joshua and an all-time great.
“Yes, if he wins, he will be the best heavyweight in the world,” he said.
“Everybody would also know that. Joshua’s not here. He’s not the first or the second man, he knows that.
“Fury would definitely be up there with the greats. It’s hard to compare him to Muhammad Ali or people like that because it’s just a different kettle of fish.
“But he would definitely be up there as someone who spoke it, did it and was able to achieve it.”
BT Sport Box Office will show Fury v Wilder 2, exclusively live on BT TV, Virgin TV, Sky, online via the web or the BT Sport Box Office App. https://www.bt.com/sport/box-office/
