Comments Thread For: Lennox Lewis Disagrees With Joshua: Fighting in Overseas a Must!

[Juof]

Ali and tyson fought all over the world and they were megastars, the only reason i think joshua wants to stay in the uk is because he is the draw he can sell out wembley against whoever imo and ontop of that the british shows have the best crowd atmospheres right now. What was good about ali and tyson was not everyone could afford to travel to america so they'd take themselves to your country and beat the best you had to offer

[Lester Tutor]

"For him to say that he just wants to stay in one place, you can't be the champion of the world - champion of the world - and want to box in one place. You're the champion of the world, my brother."

Great words from a HW legend.

Lol. I made a thread titled "Is Fighting In Vegas A Requirement?" for Heavyweight classicos. Particularly the thread about Joshua vs Wilder. Some good comments we had but the thread was su****iously deleted...

[The plunger man]

Sugar ray leonard never boxed outside america , nor did mayweather , nor did larry holmes .....the money is not being paid by the american channels and there is simply no name challenger that can compete with a mike tyson or evander holyfield.....if the fight makes sense and the money is there then why not but he is not gonna be in mega fight against wilder simply because wilder is relatively unknown .....things might change

[PittyPat]

Brit here, but I have to say – that typically rowdy sound of a British crowd... the endless footy chants... shitty Top40 music blaring through the arenas, grows old very fast. :yuck: If it's a big enough fight, Vegas crowds are loud enough but much more tolerable and less 'beer hooligan'-ish. On TV at least, I prefer them.

Also, I find it interesting that Lewis has often sided with Wladimir over Joshua many times. I can't pick out specific interviews over the years, but it seems like he hasn't quite taken to Joshua as one might think he would (fellow Brit, Olympian, HW champion, etc.) Maybe he identifies more with Wladimir due to their once-similar styles?

[Kigali]

...the UK is boxing's mecca doe.


Lewis telling him the truth.

[mick1303]

Brit here, but I have to say – that typically rowdy sound of a British crowd... the endless footy chants... shitty Top40 music blaring through the arenas, grows old very fast. :yuck: If it's a big enough fight, Vegas crowds are loud enough but much more tolerable and less 'beer hooligan'-ish. On TV at least, I prefer them.

Also, I find it interesting that Lewis has often sided with Wladimir over Joshua many times. I can't pick out specific interviews over the years, but it seems like he hasn't quite taken to Joshua as one might think he would (fellow Brit, Olympian, HW champion, etc.) Maybe he identifies more with Wladimir due to their once-similar styles?

Maybe because of Manny Stewart connection as well.

[.:: JSFD26 ::.]

"For him to say that he just wants to stay in one place, you can't be the champion of the world - champion of the world - and want to box in one place. You're the champion of the world, my brother."

Great words from a HW legend.

That's one of the things that separates past fighters and the current ones. They had ambition.

Saying you only wanna fight in one place (Joshua) isn't very ambitious IMO.

[Redd Foxx]

That's one of the things that separates past fighters and the current ones. They had ambition.

Saying you only wanna fight in one place (Joshua) isn't very ambitious IMO.

Can you imagine other fighters saying something like that? Even Wiler (everyone's favorite whipping boy) was headed to Russia to defend his own title and he didn't bytch about it one bit.
This just reinforces the whole plastic persona that I'm getting from AJ the longer he's around.

[iamboxing]

Completely different situations, you fight where the money is, never see De La Hoya, Mayweather, Canelo, jetting off round the world. In his day the money fights were in America, had a string of Americans to fight, Joshua got 1. If the Wilder fight becomes financially rewarding to have in America, then yeah fight in America, but not just for the sake of it.

More than just about money. America is still symbolic of a boxing having made it. If you're not willing to travel to the land of Ali, Tyson, SRL...legends and the largest English speaking population then you're not a world champion. Ali went to Zaire FFS! AJ has low low aspirations.

[Caught Square]

Joshua didn't say he only wanted to fight in the UK but I think he meant money wise he can easily remain in the UK and earn great amounts compared to in the past.

I see what Lennox is saying but who is the Mike Tyson or Holyfield of this era? i mean Wilder is a big fight but he's not a superstar compared to those guys is he? Wilder wasn't even recognised walking in the streets of New York in a Showtime episode with Mark Kriegel so it's probably a bigger fight in the UK. Also if Lennox had a fight of this magnitude in the UK after only 19 fights he may have a different view of things.