Lennox Lewis: Klitschko would beat Joshua with Steward

Lennox Lewis doesn’t believe that Wladimir Klitschko would have lost to Tyson Fury if Emanuel Steward were still in his corner, and doesn’t think that he would lose to Anthony Joshua if Steward were still there, either.

The retired former world heavyweight champion believes — as many do — that Steward was the greatest key to Klitschko’s decade-long run of dominance.

"If Manny was still here, Klitschko would still be the champion, and he would be a better fighter. I would have made him the favourite to beat Joshua if Manny Steward was here. It's a big loss, because he needed Emanuel, and it's really hard to replace Emanuel. In essence he's training himself, and he can't train himself because Manny set out a number of different things you could do in different situations. I know them all. I know he has that experience level.”

Klitschko, now trained by Johnathon Banks, a fighter himself and Steward protégé, does have more experience in the ring than his trainer now, and Lewis believes he simply didn’t listen to the instruction Banks gave him against Fury.

Lewis also believes Klitschko may not be fully up for Joshua, as he may truly want to fight Tyson Fury, and nobody else.

“It's not the guy on his mind, that he wants to beat. Now he has to reprogram his mind to beat this young, strong, good looking guy that punches through walls and can punch a horse and knock him out.”

Do you think Lennox is right here, on either count? Will Wladimir fall short for a second straight fight?