Hall of Famer and former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is rating Deontay Wilder as the best heavyweight on the planet.

On Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Wilder will defend his WBC world title against Tyson Fury in a rematch of their December 2018 encounter, which ended in a controversial twelve round split draw.

Lewis views Fury as the second best heavyweight in the world, with IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world champion Anthony Joshua being pegged as the third.

Of course Joshua, and his promoter Eddie Hearn, disagree with anyone holding Wilder or Fury in the top spot.

Joshua, as the hold of four titles and having several noteworthy wins on his record, views himself as the top man. Joshua was viewed as the top man early last year, but he was stopped by Andy Ruiz in seven rounds in June 2019 in a massive upset. Joshua reclaimed his belts with a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over Ruiz in December. 

"Right now the top man is Deontay because of how he looked in his last two fights," Lewis told Sky Sports News.

"Both of these guys [Wilder and Fury] are number one and number two. Arguably, number one and number two - it can be switched either way. On Saturday they get the chance to prove to the world who is number one and who is number two."

Lewis believes the winner of Wilder-Fury has to face Joshua at some point in the near future to unify the entire heavyweight division. Lewis was the last undisputed champion in the weight class.

"This is a fight that has to happen," said Lewis.

"He's the man that has a lot of belts which these guys want so there's going to be a match-up and we just have to wait and see when."