Former Champ Anthony Joshua- “Lennox is a clown”

Sometimes in sports, and specifically boxing, egos get in the way. And two large guys from the U.K., who you would think would be on the same side, have ended up being public enemies.

This is the case, as Former Unified Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua apparently has no use for fellow countrymen and former Undisputed Heavyweight Title holder of the 90s and early 2000s, Lennox Lewis.

On Thursday afternoon, Joshua repeated his distaste for Lewis, calling him a “clown” during a full interview with Sky Sports:

?"@LennoxLewis is a clown!" ?

@anthonyfjoshua sits down with @woolyanna to discuss his defeat to @Andy_destroyer1, the rematch and the conspiracy theories

AJ: The Untold Truth is On Demand tonight from 6pm! ? pic.twitter.com/ZpWA2Xk3Su

— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) August 15, 2019

The full interview aired in primetime Thursday evening and is obviously Joshua’s response to Lewis having criticized Joshua in the past.

From the clip of the conversation,

“Lennox is a clown. I don’t respect Lennox,” he said of being compared to Lewis overcoming knockout losses. “It’s nothing compared to what I’m doing. Me and Lennox aren’t the same. My legacy is to sit back and enjoy the younger generation coming up…just appreciate what it takes to get there. Lennox isn’t like that.

Me and Lennox are ‘cut from a different cloth.'”

Of course, Joshua has been on the defensive for two months, since his humiliating upset TKO loss to little known American Contender Andy Ruiz.

That humbling night at Madison Square Garden has drawn criticism from everywhere, and has motivated Joshua to get back in the ring this December with Ruiz in a rematch that is scheduled for Saudi Arabia.

For his part, Lewis took to social media to defend himself on Thursday:

Disappointed in AJ’s words but I understand that this “jealousy” narrative was only fabricated AFTER I criticized them for Wilder negotiations. All of the sudden im a hater. ??‍♂️ Ask who benefits from such a simple minded narrative? Not AJ. Not me.

— Lennox Lewis (@LennoxLewis) August 15, 2019

There is no disputing Lewis was the most successful heavyweight champion of the late 1990s and into the early part of this century. He successfully defended a version or the whole heavyweight championship for 15 fights in a row.

However, just like Joshua, Lewis did suffer humiliating losses.

The first came in his first professional defeat, when Oliver McCall stopped him in two rounds in September of 1994 in a controversial TKO to take his WBC Heavyweight Title. McCall landed one solid right hand and Lewis rose wobbly, but many felt he could continue. Yet, the referee stopped the fight, humbling the unbeaten champ.

However, three years later, Lewis recaptured the WBC belt from McCall in bizarre fashion, when McCall quit in the fifth round of the fight, while having a psychological breakdown.

And, Lewis also lost the Undisputed Championship, again in April of 2001, when another little known American, Hasim Rahman, knocked him out with one huge punch in the fifth round in South Africa. Again, Lewis avenged that defeat only five months later with a fourth-round KO of Rahman in Las Vegas.

So, the point is: Lewis can identify with what Joshua is currently going through, as he wants to avenge his own loss to Ruiz.

And, as Lewis put on his social media, the two of them were getting along earlier in Joshua’s career:

Wow! He’s right! We ARE cut from a different cloth. Undisputed wasn’t something I “worried” about. It was something I went after until it was accomplished! https://t.co/m4aw2YoTU0

— Lennox Lewis (@LennoxLewis) August 15, 2019

Of course, that’s before Lewis, who works as a commentator on Fox Sports’ coverage of PBC boxing in the U.S., began to criticize Joshua for not wanting to fight current WBC Champ (and PBC main draw), American Deontay Wilder.

Legitimately upset at the criticism or not, it’s not a good look for Joshua and his camp that he doesn’t have respect for a man that to date, has won over a dozen more title fights then Joshua has to this point in his career.

Instead, it looks like immature name calling about someone, who used to be your ally.