The opinion and expertise of Roy Jones Jr is held in high regard by the boxing community.
The 55-year-old from Pensacola, Florida enjoyed a storied professional career where he won world titles in four weight divisions, holding the record of being the only fighter in over 100-years to win a world championship at both middleweight and heavyweight.
He holds legacy defining victories over Bernard Hopkins and James Toney, but did experience defeat 10 times in his career, although the majority of those losses came at the back end of a long career.
Taking part in a ‘Winner Stays On’ video with MailSport Boxing, Jones Jr was tasked with picking who he believes would prevail in a number of fantasy bouts between legends of the sport. He was asked to predict who would have won a showdown between Lewis and Tyson if they were both in their formidable primes, as he gave his backing to the British heavyweight legend.
“Lennox Lewis.”
Tyson and Lewis did actually cross paths when both fighters were coming towards the end of their respective careers in 2002. ‘The Lion’ got the better of ‘Iron’ Mike, stopping him in the eighth round of their highly anticipated showdown at The Pyramid in Tennessee.
Many had predicted Tyson to come out on top, but it appeared that ‘father time’ had caught up with the American heavyweight legend, who had faced a number of personal issues outside of the ring throughout his career, which would go on to have a negative impact on his performances inside of it.
Lewis fought once more after defeating ‘Iron’ Mike, knocking out Vitali Klitschko in brutal fashion in the 44th and final bout of his career. He is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, and in the eyes of many he is the greatest British fighter in history.
