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Lennox Lewis Admits Underestimating Tyson Fury Against Deontay Wilder:”I Was Really Surprised”

Published 11/22/2020, 7:30 AM EST

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Battling with overweight and suicidal thoughts, Tyson Fury shocked the world when he returned to main-stream boxing. Eventually, he ended up against the WBC champion (then) Deontay Wilder in 2018 and became the only man to walk away unbeaten from Wilder’s trap.

Although he was floored in the final round with a vicious right hand, Fury got back on his feet and put on a clinical show. That said, he manhandled Wilder throughout the fight. While several people picked Fury to win the first encounter, many were left surprised by his performance. Former heavyweight champion and fellow Britisher Lennox Lewis was one of them.

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‘The Lion’ claims that he didn’t consider Tyson Fury to be mentally ready for the fight. However, ‘The Gypsy King’ left him stunned. Lewis connected with BT Sport to discuss the fight and had some glorious words to offer Fury.

He said, “I was very surprised how well he did. Because you know, coming back from all those mental problems that haunted him, I was really surprised. I didn’t think he was mentally ready for the fight, but he thought he was mentally ready for the fight.”

Tyson Fury and the unforgettable final round

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There is no way Lewis could miss talking about the close deciding round. Many fans claim that it changed the outcome of the fight. If not for the big knockdown, Wilder could have lost his strap that night. However, Fury showcased a warrior’s mind by emerging stronger from it.

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Lewis said, “At that moment Fury got up. I was thinking what everybody else was thinking, that the fight was over and I was surprised that the referee actually counting because of the way he landed. And then when he rose up and came back and he was like. He was lot more energetic even after that because he went after Deontay.”

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The heavyweight rivalry between Fury and Wilder has taken several turns since then. In the rematch, Fury completely outclassed his American adversary to claim the WBC strap via seventh-round TKO. While the trilogy fight was set to happen this year, it is still far from getting booked.

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Written by:

Raj Sarkar

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A senior boxing writer at EssentiallySports, Raj Sarkar is a mass media graduate who is currently pursuing his master’s degree in broadcast journalism. In addition to his current role, he has worked with the MMA team at EssentiallySports and has interviewed prominent fighters such as Ritu Phogat and 'The Red King' Rory MacDonald. He combined his bachelor's degree with his adoration for combat sports and has a combined 2000 plus bylines in MMA and boxing over the last two years.
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