Lennox Lewis Gives Harsh Reality Check to Eddie Hearn on Undisputed Path for Winner of Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou will face each other on March 8 in Saudi Arabia. However, in the last couple of days, Lennox Lewis has confronted Eddie Hearn regarding his concerns surrounding the winner getting a shot at the undisputed title. In the same context, the head of Matchroom Boxing wasn’t going to sit idle as he clapped right back at ‘The Lion.’ 

The update comes after Turki Alalshikh confirmed on Monday that the winner of Joshua vs. Ngannou would take on the winner of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury, scheduled for February 17. While it’s all good news for the four fighters involved, Lewis deemed someone else worthy of the undisputed shot on X. He also highlighted kinks in the eventual undisputed title shot for the winner of Joshua vs. Ngannou while shedding light on comments Eddie Hearn made that contradicted Joshua’s fight against Ngannou.

Lennox Lewis reminds Eddie Hearn of the rematch clause 

On January 17, the last undisputed heavyweight champion broke down the reality of the upcoming fights and the decisions made. He questioned Joshua’s worthiness to get an undisputed shot if he defeated Ngannou and Otto Wallin before that. Lewis believes, “There’s a much better case for the winner of [Joseph Parker vs. Zhilei Zhang].” 

It’s worth mentioning that Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker defeated Joe Joyce and Deontay Wilder, respectively, and are considered greats of the division. They will also fight each other in the undercard of the March 8 ‘Knockout Chaos’ event. Back to Lewis’ tweet, he further questions if Usyk wins against Fury and Joshua beats Ngannou, would people want to see a third fight between ‘AJ’ and Usyk? 

Later that day, when Hearn discovered the tweet, he quickly responded, “Break down whatever you want. His Excellency confirmed the plan. Winner of [Joshua–Ngannou] v winner of [Fury–Usyk].” Hearn added that the dream for Joshua was always to become undisputed, which is just a fight away. However, the British promoter didn’t mind Lewis’ preference for Parker vs. Zhang’s winner. 

The spat should have ended there, but it didn’t! On January 18, Lewis wrote back, highlighting Usyk and Fury’s rematch clause that would force the winner to fight again and push the undisputed shot for March 8’s winner back. If that wasn’t enough, Lewis tweeted an interview where Eddie Hearn criticized Fury for fighting Ngannou instead of facing Usyk for the undisputed title. Lewis attempted to highlight Hearn’s hypocrisy for arranging the fight between ‘AJ’ and Ngannou despite criticizing Fury when he did the same.

However, the Matchroom Boxing head had a sly answer ready for Lewis, pointing out how bothered Lewis was with the situation. Hearn asked Lewis to find happiness in Joshua and Ngannou’s success while urging Lewis to be proud of his achievement in the sport. 

Also Read: Boxing Updates: Eddie Hearn Lays Out 2024 Plan For Anthony Joshua

There hasn’t been a response from Lewis after Hearn’s last tweet yet, possibly concluding their brief stint online. However, Lewis did bring up some interesting points about the problems in the plan for the winner of both events. Do you think the winner of Joseph vs. Zhang has a better claim at the undisputed shot?

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