Former champion Lewis says 'heavyweight boxing is dead'

Johannesburg, Mar 22(ANI): Former world champion Lennox Lewis has described the heavyweight division as 'dead' and disparaged current champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko for fighting inferior boxers.

Lewis who retired in 2003 as the WBC and IBO champion after defending his titles with a sixth round technical knockout of Vitali Klitschko, believes the heavyweight division badly needs more exciting fighters to come through.

"Right now, the heavyweight division is dead. The Klitschko brothers and their opponents are just filling their bags (with cash). Their opponents will not improve, they wouldn't have even made sparring partners for me," Sports 24 quoted Lewis, as saying.

The aging Ukrainian brothers hold all the major heavyweight belts between them. Wladimir, who turns 36 on Sunday, holds the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles while Vitali, 40, is the WBC champion.

Wladimir knocked out former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck on March 3 after the Frenchman was hopelessly outdone, and Lewis said the Klitschko's title fights are a poor advert for the sport.At some point, the referee steps in and stops the fight. They are boring. If you are looking to find the best boxer in the world it must be decided by an epic fight. Not this circus," he added. (ANI)