Earnie Shavers, who battled legends Muhummad Ali and Larry Holmes, believes that current heavyweight king Lennox Lewis will easily beat Mike Tyson if the pair ever meet.

Shavers, who was revered during the 70s as one of the hardest punchers in boxing at any weight, believes that Lewis will need to fight the New York man to guarantee himself a place in boxing history.

"Lewis will beat Tyson - Tyson is over the hill and he has no heart," Shavers said.

"Lewis will intimidate him and put pressure on him. Tyson's made for him. Lennox Lewis is without doubt the true champion but I think until he beats Tyson he will never get the recognition he wants."

Struggle

But despite praising the Englishman, Shavers thinks that Lewis would have struggled to live with the heavyweights of his own era.

"Back then, we all had the heart and we all knocked people out. I don't question Lewis' ability or his chin - but the way I punched, I don't care what kind of chin you've got," said the man who now lives on Merseyside.

"Lewis has a good jab and is a pretty good banger, but I loved fighting big guys. I'd slip inside, a right to the heart, a couple of lefts to the chin, then go home."

Botha

Shavers does not foresee Saturday's challenger Francois Botha giving Lewis too many problems. And he believes that the champion should hang around for too much longer after the fight.

"He doesn't need the fight game - he has a name and he's put his money away. He's in the position now where his desire might have gone a bit - who'd want to go training? I know I wouldn't.

"He still hasn't overcome that lack of killer instinct but if Lewis really put his heart and soul into it there's nobody at the moment who could beat him."