Previous undisputed HW champion Lennox Lewis gives four-word reaction to Oleksandr Usyk's feat, sends message to Tyson Fury

Lennox Lewis sent heartfelt messages to Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk following their historic fight. Usyk defeated Fury in a title unification bout on May 18 to become the first undisputed heavyweight world champion in nearly 25 years.

The fight was a tough back-and-forth affair where both men gave their best. However, Usyk had the most impactful moment as he came dangerously close to knocking Fury out in Round 9.

'The Gypsy King' survived the onslaught and made a good comeback in later rounds. However, two out of three judges scored the contest in Usyk's favor, declaring him the winner by split decision (115-112, 114-113, 113-114).

Lewis, who is Usyk's predecessor as the undisputed heavyweight world champion, sent a four-word message to the Ukrainian boxer for achieving the massive feat.

"Welcome to the club! @usykaa" #Undisputed

Lewis also sent a heartwarming message of encouragement to Fury, who suffered the first loss of his professional boxing career against Usyk. In his post on X, the retired boxer showed faith in Fury's ability to bounce back from the loss:

"Fury will learn from this and he'll be back! Losing is also part of the game, it's how you respond to a loss that makes the difference."

Lewis became the undisputed champion by defeating Evander Holyfield in November 1999. His reign lasted till April 2000 as the Brit was stripped of the WBA heavyweight title for fighting the WBC mandatory challenger next instead of the WBA No.1 contender.

Usyk's undisputed title reign is expected to be even shorter. According to boxing journalist Dan Rafael, the Ukrainian boxer will have to vacate the IBF heavyweight title as per the contract. Mandatory challengers Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois will fight for the vacant title on June 1.