Tyson Fury beats heavyweight rival Lennox Lewis to be crowned ‘Best of Britain’

There have been some phenomenal boxers to emerge from Britain and Ireland in the past 20 years, but after four rounds Tyson Fury has been crowed the best of them all

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Tyson Fury on top of the world in training video

Tyson Fury has narrowly edged past heavyweight rival Lennox Lewis to be crowned as the best boxer from Britain and Ireland since 2000.

Mirror Fighting put together a list of 16 world-class boxers to emerge from Britain and Ireland in the past two decades and asked the public to decide who was the best.

Fans were not voting for who would win a mythical match-up, but instead for who had the better career.

Former champions such as Kell Brook, Amir Khan and Anthony Joshua were all eliminated in the first round of the competition.

The semi-finals saw Lewis take on Joe Calzaghe whilst Fury was matched up with former featherweight showman Prince Naseem.

But it was Fury and Lewis who stormed through to the final in decisive fashion and with 50,000 of you voting throughout, it was the current heavyweight champion who earned the nod with 53.5 per cent of the vote.

Since turning professional in 2008, Fury has gone unbeaten in 33 professional fights.

He provided one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history by outpointing Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to win the unified titles.

But the Brit wouldn’t fight again for three years after going through mental health issues and putting on over 10 stone.

Since returning to the ring, Fury has been through an epic three-fight trilogy with Deontay Wilder, ending his rivalry with the American last month.

Lewis is a three-time champion and remains the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed titles.

He only suffered defeats to Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall in 44 fights, later avenging both of the losses.

‘The Lion’ retired in 2004 after stopping Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko in the final two fights of his legendary career.

Fury and Lewis recently crossed paths last month when Fury knocked out Wilder in Las Vegas.

Lewis praised Fury – who was knocked down twice in the fight – for his performance and resilience.

“Unbelievable fight man, you showed great heart, great resilience and ring IQ,” Lewis said.

“You can’t go swimming and not get we, if you play with fire long enough you’re gonna get burned,” Fury replied.