Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis believes the trauma of the ninth round Tyson Fury endured against Oleksandr Usyk in May could have lingering effects.
The heavyweights meet again on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia having combined in a great heavyweight fight earlier in 2025.
Fury somehow survived that ninth round, but it was desperately one-sided; Usyk punched him around the ring, and Fury was dropped, and nearly stopped. Some observers felt that the fight could have been halted in the Ukrainian’s favor when Fury was hanging on.
The Englishman had little left, but made it through. However, Lewis recognizes that the damage of thar round could stay with Fury – if not physically, then mentally.
“Yeah, of course [there will be scars from the ninth round],” Lewis told BoxingScene. “I mean, there’s only one guy that got hurt in that fight and it wasn’t Oleksandr Usyk. It was Tyson Fury. And now Oleksandr Usyk knows he can hurt Tyson Fury.
“He almost got him the last time. He almost knocked him out. This time, he’s probably going to be trying to knock him out, knowing that he can hurt him. Definitely.”
Lewis came back from two disastrous knockout losses, to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, and avenged both defeats, ensuring he beat every fight he faced as a pro.
As the former heavyweight king Lewis is hoping – and expects – the champion Usyk and challenger Fury to produce another exciting show and that Usyk’s best form of defense could be to attack.
“Oh, absolutely,” Lewis said, predicting another action fight. “Every heavyweight fight, there’s always drama. This fight, because Tyson Fury lost the last time, there’s going to be drama. He’s coming to win.
“Oleksandr Usyk knows that. He doesn’t want him to come to win, so he even has to work harder to make sure that he doesn’t win. I can’t really go against Oleksandr Usyk because he’s an undisputed champion in two weights. Now, it’s a situation where he has to keep Tyson Fury at bay. By keeping him at bay, he still has to go at him. He has to go at him and try and win this fight.”
