Lennox Lewis wants Joshua to retire from boxing, Tyson Fury disagrees

Former world champion Lennox Lewis has cast doubt on Anthony Joshua’s readiness for Tyson Fury, and gone further — questioning whether Joshua should be boxing at this stage of his career at all.

Speaking to The Ring from Jamaica, the Hall of Famer pointed to Joshua’s performance against Kristian Prenga in Jeddah on July 25, when the former champion was dropped twice in the opening round before recovering to stop his opponent.

“Does he really belong in the ring right now?” Lewis asked, describing Prenga as a virtual novice and suggesting Joshua is no longer the fighter he was.

Lewis also referenced the December 29 car crash that killed two of Joshua’s close friends and preceded his move to a new training camp, framing his concern as being about more than one difficult round.

Asked to compare the two heavyweights, Lewis sided with Fury. He noted that Joshua had boxed Jake Paul before the Prenga scare, while Fury has looked the sharper man across his two comeback bouts. “He showed me more in his two fights than Joshua has recently,” Lewis said. Boxing News

Fury banked seven rounds against Mariusz Wach in Thailand the day before Joshua boxed in Jeddah.

Lewis was blunt about what is driving the fight. “Obviously, this has turned into a money thing,” he said. Joshua and Fury are still expected to be announced for November, with both camps working toward final terms. Lewis is not the first to suggest the bout arrives several years after its natural expiry date. He may be the most difficult to dismiss.

Debate is still raging about where Joshua is in his career, with Andy Lee suggesting he needs another fight before sharing the ring with Tyson Fury.

Joshua has had a turbulent couple of years ever since initially getting back to winning ways following back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk that left him without any of his world titles.

He then stepped into the ring with IBF ruler Daniel Dubois and was knocked out inside five rounds, and ended up having a year out of the ring.

Last December, he returned with a knockout win against the overmatched Jake Paul, and was then involved in a car accident in which two of his closest friends were sadly killed.

Last weekend, he took a warm-up fight in preparation for the showdown with Fury that is planned for later in the year and found himself down twice in the opening round before coming back in the second to win with an impressive KO just before the bell rang.

Speaking to Sun Sport, Fury’s coach Lee suggested delaying the all-British heavyweight clash.

“If I was ‘AJ’ I would take another fight. I know people will go crazy. Put it back to summer next year, at Wembley, and take another fight in between. I would. Activity, you know, Jake Paul, then an accident, a terrible accident, then this one. I would have another tune-up fight. I wouldn’t rush it.”

Fury had his second warm-up fight after a year off when he beat Mariusz Wach in Thailand last weekend, though he looked far from his best.