{"id":470348,"date":"2025-10-03T05:55:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T05:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/470348\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T05:55:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T05:55:23","slug":"lennox-lewis-explains-why-oleksandr-usyk-should-retire-from-boxing-and-follow-in-his-footsteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/470348\/","title":{"rendered":"Lennox Lewis explains why Oleksandr Usyk should retire from boxing and follow in his footsteps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Lennox Lewis believes Oleksandr Usyk should end his boxing career while he is the top dog in the heavyweight division.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Usyk is currently the undisputed king at heavyweight, after <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/boxing\/3395035\/oleksandr-usyk-v-daniel-dubois-2-who-won-ko-highlights-result\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emphatically stopping Daniel Dubois<\/a> to add the IBF belt back to his collection again.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Usyk is on top of the heavyweight world right now, but his next fight is yet to be pencilled in\" height=\"400\" width=\"600\" data-credit=\"GETTY\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100A5143.jpg\" data-caption=\"Usyk is on top of the heavyweight world right now, but his next fight is yet to be pencilled in\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100A5143.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Usyk is on top of the heavyweight world right now, but his next fight is yet to be pencilled inCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian seems invincible right now and has almost taken out all of the leading contenders in the weight class single-handedly during his stellar reign at the top.<\/p>\n<p>He has next been ordered to defend his titles against the WBO&#8217;s mandatory challenger Joseph Parker.<\/p>\n<p>But Usyk is <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/boxing\/3509590\/oleksandr-usyk-injury-delay-dancing-joseph-parker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">currently out injured and the fight is delayed<\/a>, with Parker taking a huge fight with Fabio Wardley later this month to protect his interim status.<\/p>\n<p>There are several huge alternative opponent options for Usyk should he continue to fight, including a trilogy with <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/tyson-fury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tyson Fury<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although the previous undisputed heavyweight king before Usyk, Lewis, believes the current king should follow his path to retirement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When a guy retires, it&#8217;s really down to him,&#8221; he told Sky Sports. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s got to feel that push that he wants to retire, but he can teach a lot of young boxers a lot of different things: dedication, hard work, sacrifice, because he&#8217;s been through that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So I would say to him to retire at your own time, but retire on top. Like I did.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s definitely the hardest thing to do because you basically want to be the best in boxing and take all the belts for yourself and be the number one guy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s always other boxers out there that don&#8217;t want you to achieve that. They&#8217;re standing by, they want to be beat you, they want to be the first boxer to beat you. That&#8217;s why you&#8217;ve got to make sure that you retire on top.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lennox Lewis&#8217; retirement from boxing &#8211; could Usyk do the same?<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lewis went out as a true champion beating Klitschko and holding his world titles until the day his career ended\" height=\"642\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WBC3.jpg\" data-caption=\"Lewis went out as a true champion beating Klitschko and holding his world titles until the day his career ended\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WBC3.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Lewis went out as a true champion beating Klitschko and holding his world titles until the day his career endedCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>Lewis went out at the pinnacle of the sport, and it is clear why he wants Usyk to do the same.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The Lion&#8217; avenged his defeat to Hasim Rahman in 2001, but wasn&#8217;t done there as he secured one of the biggest fights of his career against <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/mike-tyson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Tyson<\/a> a year later.<\/p>\n<p>He flattened a declining great to retain his unified titles in one of the biggest nights of his career, but wasn&#8217;t done there.<\/p>\n<p>His final bow came against Vitali Klitschko, a far younger and fresher fighter who still succumbed to the great power of the champion.<\/p>\n<p>It was a sensational moment, and to go out in glory is a boxer&#8217;s dream, which is exactly what Lewis did in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did he go out with victory, but Lewis retired as a unified world champion, when so many others have fought on for too long.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s next for Usyk if he continues fighting?<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Usyk is certainly in demand with several fights on the table if he chooses to continue\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Leigh Dawney \/ Queensberry\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100A5294.jpg\" data-caption=\"Usyk is certainly in demand with several fights on the table if he chooses to continue\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100A5294.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Usyk is certainly in demand with several fights on the table if he chooses to continueCredit: Leigh Dawney \/ Queensberry<\/p>\n<p>A fight with the winner of Parker vs Wardley is now the primary option for Usyk, but it isn&#8217;t certain he is moved by the prospect of a bout.<\/p>\n<p>Several more commercially viable opportunities could present themselves including a third clash with Fury.<\/p>\n<p>British heavyweight rising star <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/moses-itauma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Moses Itauma<\/a> is also coming through the ranks, and could be a huge option next year should he pursue it.<\/p>\n<p>Irrespective of boxing exploits, he has indicated he is likely to turn to MMA in the future for a surprise showdown with YouTuber-turned-fighter Jake Paul.<\/p>\n<p>Usyk suggested <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/boxing\/3584101\/oleksandr-usyk-jake-paul-fight-ultimatum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he is more than ready for the bout<\/a> to happen, but is first keen to forge more legacy in boxing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lennox Lewis believes Oleksandr Usyk should end his boxing career while he is the top dog in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,4496,29796,5122,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-470348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-news","10":"tag-lennox-lewis","11":"tag-oleksandr-usyk","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115308693189304044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}