He already has done. Fury was talking about having more heart than Lewis before he beat Wlad. Lewis tweeted back something like 'Olympic Gold, British, Commonwealth, European, WBC, WBA, IBF, Undisputed, Lineal, Legitimate, Hall of Fame.' I guess there may be more than one side to it, but I imagine it's more that there's a twinge of jealousy about Joshua in the sense that he's this stadium filling superstar. Fury's well known but he's nowhere near as popular. Plus, Lennox could really turn it on when he wanted to. He was entertaining to watch. I think we all know if Fury carries on as-is he'll have a good career and an absolutely stinking highlight reel.
Well, they're not that refreshing if they're plainly incorrect and laughably hypocritical. Doesn't do Lennox any favours and inevitably leads to some sharp criticism of his own career.
There's not really much to see here. Big Lennox simply doesn't like Joshua, possibly for lots of reasons. It's a shame considering he's such a legend, but everyone may as well just make their peace with it and move on. I don't think it's a simple case of jealousy either. He tried to help David Price at a time where a lot of people thought the first Thompson fight was just a blip. I also don't think he's being ordered to say this stuff by PBC. Of course the PBC role will mean he is asked about Joshua, but his negative comments won't be scripted, just the result of a general dislike for the guy.
That was my point, they should be but they don't. The only guy among his caliber is Canelo and he seems to pick it up lately.
How would you avoid the hype though? He's a guy who became heavyweight world champion in his sixteenth fight, unified in his nineteenth, unified further in his twenty-first and after twenty two fights has beaten four world champions. His career has moved at a rate that is almost incomparable to any other heavyweights recently, and people like Lewis are telling him he needs to get a move on and start fighting better opponents? That has a very strong whiff of jealousy, especially when you realise it's from a man who had his legacy fights against well past their best names. When Lennox had fought 22 times he was on the verge of winning the heavyweight title. Great, but in the years that followed, in order, he went Tucker, Bruno, Jackon, lost to McCall, then fought Butler, Fortune, Morrison, Mercer, McCall, Akinwande, Golota, Briggs, Mavrovic. That period of time took nearly six years, featured no unification fights, and evidently didn't feature anyone with the surname Bowe, Holyfield or Tyson. Can you imagine if Joshua spent the next six years fighting a similar run of names?
Jealousy lol, you do know Lewis is worth well over 70 million sterling right? Fame? Joshua is barely known outside of the UK however much you want to pretend otherwise. You keep making out like he's some Tiger Woods or Lewis Hamilton tier star and that's simply not the case. Meteoric career progression? Please. He's fought old men and dwarves and preferably a combo of the two to keep the Matchroom Magical Golden Revenue Generator whirring, as confirmed by Barry Hearn himself at least 3 times in the last year on film and radio - "What's the rush?" "The timing isn't right for Wilder" "There's a plan". All the evidence is there for a fence sitter with a relatively critically thinking mind and who knows that actions count, not words. Eddie steps in with his "muh offer" deflector shield when anyone approaching dangerous shows interest - which everyone aside from the most coke-addled quiff adorned casual is seeing through now. Isn't it odd how Eddie seems to have issue after issue negotiating with anyone when it comes to Joshua? He makes fights for all his stable with ease and regularly and in fairness with decent opponents as a general rule. But Joshua. No. All of a sudden there's always an issue somewhere. Contracts, percentages, stadium dates, blah blah you know the drill. Even though I'm pretty sure that you're in some way connected to Matchroom in a professional sense (probably a paid Hasbara type with a debrief to steer away any criticism), has it ever occurred to you that in a lifetime of Pro boxing, Lennox, may, just may have more of an insight into what has gone on beyond despite all of Hearn's obfuscation attempts?
Lewis is undoubtedly rich and well known, but I think he doesn't like the fact that Joshua looks like he's setting up a career which is starting to become comparable to his own. Hence setting up daft expectations which Joshua 'must' meet, (but which for Lennox, there are always excuses.) It's also nice to see that just thinking Joshua is the best heavyweight in the world (which I do) means I must be being paid by Matchroom. That's head gone, conspiracy theory territory.
You always bang on about the number of fights Joshua has had as though it's some miracle where he is now. Fact is Tyson Fury became no.1 in the division around the same age that Joshua won a strap and Lennox wasn't much older when he became champion. The number of fights each had becomes insignificant when you compare their ages.
Hearn talks about 22 fights but Joshua took 5 yrs to have 22 fights at age 29. Lewis took 3 years by age 27 and Mike Tyson took one year at age 19 to fight 22 times. If you then consider what Tyson achieved in 5 years becoming youngest heavyweight champion, dominating and unifying the division up to the Buster Douglas fight at age 24. Lewis beat Ruddock in his 22nd fight at age 27 and if you extend to a 5 year period he defended against Tucker, Bruno and Jackson up to the Mccall fight. So Hearn is taking Joshua's 22 fights out of context in comparison to Lewis or anyone else.
He has trashed Fury in the past, but with good argument s like here where he favours David haye over him, This content is protected
Lewis’s issue with Joshua is greed. I think that in Lennox’s prime he genuinely wanted the unification fights, but as as been said on here already politics or other issues got in the way of making them happen. With Joshua, the Wilder fight (or Fury if that is your preference) should be relatively easy to make and the only reason it hasn’t been signed is because AJ doesn’t want to give up too much of a share of a very large pot. I think all this particularly annoys Lennox because by all accounts the Bowe fight didn’t happen because of his (Bowe’s) crazy money demands, so AJ’s behaviour must sound very familiar to him
