Tyson Fury says watching Lennox Lewis get KOd by Hasim Rahman piqued his interest in boxing but Ricky Hatton inspired him to become a world champion

Tyson Fury is an inspiration to many today, but before he became heavyweight world champion he had his own idols.

There is a hotly contested debate among boxing fans as to who is the greatest British heavyweight of all time between Fury and his predecessor, Lennox Lewis.

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But, had it not been for Lewis, then Fury may have never even become interested in boxing, as 'The Gypsy King' revealed on that watching 'The Lion' get knocked out by Hasim Rahman made him begin paying attention to the sport.

"My first ever memory of boxing, massive one, was Lennox Lewis vs Hasim Rahman, the first one," Fury said.

"We waited up all night to watch it and whack, he got chinned out in a few rounds. That was my first, real, massive boxing memory.

"I'd been watching boxing from way before that, but I'd never really been interested until that moment."

The first fight between Lewis and Rahman back in 2001 is up there with the biggest upsets in boxing history.

But, it did not take Lewis long to get his revenge, as just seven months later, the Brit knocked out Rahman inside four rounds to win back his WBC and IBF heavyweight world titles.

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After watching Lewis vs Rahman, Fury was hooked on boxing, but it was not until he attended Ricky Hatton's fight against Kosta Tszyu at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester that he was truly inspired to want to become a heavyweight world champion.

Hatton won the clash in 2005 against Tszyu by eleventh round stoppage to move his record on to 39-0 and it was the fight that announced him as a global boxing star.

"The first massive fight I went to was Ricky Hatton vs Kosta Tszyu, that's as big as it gets.

"It was in Manchester and it was for the [IBF] belt against a legendary champion.

"I believe there was about three or four other future world champions in there that night, me, [Anthony] Crolla, Terry Flanagan, all from Manchester and all went on to win the world title.

"We were all inspired by 'The Hitman', all of us."