Former cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew explained why Anthony Joshua reminds him of former world champion Lennox Lewis.
Lewis is one of the finest heavyweight fighters of the modern era, and was one of the more cerebral fighters of his time, while retaining frightening power.
Speaking to bitcoincasinos.com, Bellew suggested that he and Joshua both have a bruising ability to break down their opponents, referencing Lewis’ exploits and Joshua’s recent win over experienced heavyweight Robert Helenius.
He said: “If you can break someone down systematically and punish them and brutalise them and then finish them off when they’re absolutely at the edge then I’d do that every time.
"Lennox Lewis was the master of that. If you want to compare him to Lennox, which Joshua absolutely will hate by the way, but when Lennox was first on the scene he was a wrecking machine. He was flying through fighters.
“The setback came with the Oliver McCall fight and then he went to Emmanuel Stewart and he changed his style and started to break fighters down by using his jab to such great effect. He was the greatest coach ever in my opinion but this used to send him insane.
"It used to infuriate him. When Lennox was in training camp he used to play chess all the time and Emmanuel Steward hated that. But a boxing match is chess. You’ve got to be three, four or five moves ahead.”