Lennox Lewis vs Anthony Joshua records: How the fighters compare as war of words rumbles on
Lennox Lewis and Anthony Joshua have been embroiled in a war of words this week.
Ex-world heavyweight champion Lewis was branded a ‘clown’ by Joshua after he criticised AJ for his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joshua insisted he has no respect for Lewis and that the two boxing big guns are ‘cut from a different cloth’.
Lewis hit back, expressing his disappointment in such words from a former champion and claiming the comments were made out of ‘jealousy’.
Joshua stood firm, taking to social media to call ‘The Lion’ a clown once again and it seems the bad blood between the pair could rumble on for a while yet.
The b ust-up got marvelbet369.com thinking about what their records are like when compared and if there should be a bit more admiration between two of Britain’s great fighters.
Lennox Lewis vs Anthony Joshua: records compared
Lennox Lewis made his professional debut in June 1989, knocking out Al Malcolm in the second round of their fight at the Royal Albert Hall.
He went on to win 25 bouts on the bounce before losing his unbeaten record at the gloves of Oliver McCall in September 1994.
Lewis then rebuilt his career and regain his WBC heavyweight title against McCall in 1997 before defending it nine times including against Evander Holyfield picking up the WBA, IBF and IBO belts in doing so.
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He lost and then regained those crowns against Hasim Rahman in 2001 and then ended his glittering career with two blockbuster wins over Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko.
In total Lewis fought 44 times, winning 41 with 32 knockouts. He lost twice and drew once. He remains the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed title.
Anthony Joshua, meanwhile, also enjoyed a fine start to his professional career after winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics.
He won his first 22 pro bouts with his breakthrough victory against Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017 propelling him to superstardom.
He won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles during his unbeaten run which saw him claim wins over the likes of Alexander Povetkin, Joseph Parker and Dillian Whyte.
But his good work was undone in dramatic fashion when he faced Mexico’s Andy Ruiz Jr in New York last June.
AJ was put down four times on his American debut to relinquish his titles.
Joshua, who is set to face Ruiz in an all-important rematch later this year, now has a record of 23 fights with 22 wins and one defeat.