“I think Fury boxes to the level of his opposition,” Lewis said to The Ring. “He’s trying to keep sharp for Joshua, the right thing to do, and needed to have a tick-over fight. His going some more rounds in his legs is what he wanted and did, so just a warm-up for another fight.”
Fury recently boxed seven rounds against former title challenger Mariusz Wach before the Polish veteran retired on his stool. Joshua’s performance told a different story.
After back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk, Matchroom got Joshua back on track with wins over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou. Daniel Dubois stopped that run cold with a knockout. Instead of putting Joshua back in with another top heavyweight, Matchroom matched him against Jake Paul and then Kristian Prenga. Joshua got the victories, but he looked vulnerable again.
Working with a new training team after a December 29 car accident that claimed two close friends, Joshua survived another difficult night against Prenga. Lewis believes those performances raise a larger question.
“Does he really belong in the ring right now?” Lennox said. “A virtual novice put him on the ground twice in the first round. Is that it, have we seen the last of him? It’s not like he’s his old self.”
Lewis is not reacting to one bad performance. Joshua has looked vulnerable each time the level of opposition has increased, and he failed to look convincing after returning to softer opposition. At 36, the punishment from a long career appears to have caught up with him. He can still beat carefully selected opponents, but every step up now carries far greater risk than it once did.
A fight with Fury still carries enormous financial appeal because it remains one of British boxing’s biggest attractions. Inside the ropes, however, it no longer resembles the meeting fans wanted years ago.
“Obviously, this has turned into a money thing,” Lewis said. “The fight should have happened years ago, but they want to make the fight, and still can make some money out of it. You can’t say either is at their best now.
“Definitely, Fury is closer, but both are shadows of their former selves. I’d side with Fury. He showed me more in his two fights than Joshua has recently. He boxed a YouTuber, now boxed a guy who knocked him down twice and next faces Fury? That’s a big step up.”
Joshua may still have enough left to beat certain heavyweights, but that list appears to be shrinking. Fighters with youth, power or a relentless pace now present serious danger. Lewis’ comments suggest the real question is no longer whether Joshua can headline another major event. It is whether he should continue facing opponents capable of exposing the decline that has become increasingly difficult to overlook.
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