Anthony Joshua had a solid 2023 claiming three wins as he looks to become heavyweight world champion once again.
‘AJ’ easily defeated Otto Wallin in his last outing and the Swede was pulled out of the fight after five one-sided rounds.
But Speaking to Ring Magazine, Lennox Lewis doesn’t believe that was the right sort of opponent for the Brit and has explained exactly why.
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Lewis said: “Joshua lost and he came back against Franklin and Helenius. Everyone is judging him and watching him closely. I look at Joshua and I’m like, ‘OK, he’s had a couple gimme fights, he doesn’t need any more gimme fights.’ He wants to test his skill, give him something. You cannot give scraps to a dog. This guy wants to go out there and prove himself. Allow him to, don’t baby him.”
“This last guy [Otto Wallin], I don’t know how you’re picking your [opponents]. [Joshua] sparred with him and he beat him, so he knows how he is and he beat him as an amateur, [his team is like] ‘this is the guy we should fight.’ No, that’s not the guy you should be fighting because you don’t get respect fighting those guys.”
“He needs to be fighting guys people can say, ‘That’s a good guy. You’re back on top.’ Not a guy that has no definition, doesn’t throw any punches and sinks to body punches. To me there’s nothing gained. It’s false security. Anybody can beat these guys, knock ’em out, but it didn’t do anything for you. Gain is when you conquer.”
The former undisputed heavyweight champion then suggested Zhilei Zhang as an ideal opponent.
“Be a conqueror, beat the guy [Zhilei Zhang] that beat your fellow Englishman, Joe Joyce. The only new name is Frank Sanchez, that’s a good fight for him.
“The problem now, he’s going to be boxing the guys who are coming up, but his main competitors for more credibility are now Fury and Zhang. For me, boxing the guys who were coming up when I was there, I didn’t want that. I wanted guys who I could sink my teeth into, guys who would get me somewhere.
Who would you like Joshua to fight next? Let us know in the comments.
