Lennox Lewis put a price on a Mike Tyson rematch. Photo / Getty
Lennox Lewis put a price on a Mike Tyson rematch. Photo / Getty
Three-time world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has put a price on what it would take for him to step back into the boxing ring at the age of 53.
Speaking on the Joe Rogan Podcast, Lewis admitted that the lure of a lucrative $100million (NZ$145 million) payday would secure himto a rematch against Mike Tyson, who he defeated through an eighth-round knockout in 2002.
"Well you know, I told people that I'd take my pyjamas off for a 100 mill," Lewis said. "So if you're serious - come with it baby, show me the paper."
Lewis called time on his career in 2003 after claiming victory over Vitali Klitschko, while 52-year-old Tyson stepped out of the ring just two years later in 2005.
Confident he would have the advantage over his rival, Lewis revealed how his continued training over the years could come in handy should a rematch be agreed upon.
Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson during the 2002 fight. Photo / Getty
"I looked at Tyson's history, he's coming from the same history that I'm coming from and he spent some time in incarceration," he said.
"While he was in incarceration I'm still out there fighting and training hard, he didn't have that in there so when he came out it was like training again doing what he knows not what he loves, that's going to make him some money - that's going to put some food on the table.
"I look at old-time fighters and say, what made them stay in boxing so long, that's the only thing they knew.
"They're not going to be no singer or dancer or whatever they only know boxing and this is where they get their money from so that's what forces them back into the ring."
Lewis spoke to the Herald in an exclusive interview last year where he advised Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker to take a break and work on his weaknesses after losing his WBO world title to Anthony Joshua and losing to Dillian Whyte.
According to Lewis, elite opponents probably wouldn't have a lot to fear against Parker, although he did acknowledge that the Kiwi-Samoan was a quick puncher.
"Joseph Parker has a couple of things that he does wrong," Lewis said. "Good fighters can really take advantage of that – and they did. And one of the big problems is that he moves straight back. He doesn't give you angles, and a blind man can basically weather two punches from Joseph Parker and throw four punches back and will hit him because he only moves back in the same space.
"These things can be fixed he just needs the proper training. I'm not saying that he has a bad trainer he just needs someone to teach him a couple of things. … A good trainer can't look at me and say 'Hey, look at this guy he backs up and he telegraphs his right hand'. All those weaknesses I've got I made them strengths."
