possible managerLennox Lewis played down speculation that he could be making a return to boxing to manage Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua.The young fighter, one of the sport's hottest properties, has also been warned that his financial demands to turn professional are being set too high in the current climate.
“The market is very different from when Audley Harrison won the Olympic gold medal and had the BBC deal worth a million quid,” Eddie Hearn told Telegraph Sport. "We have been talking to his team."
In the last fortnight, promoter Frank Warren has also revealed he has had talks with the young heavyweight, as Joshua and his management team have cast their net to promoters worldwide.
Joshua, 23, is out of contract with GB Boxing’s amateur in seven days’time, and is expected to make clear plans for his future.
Lewis played down suggestions, through his UK office, that he could be stepping back into boxing to manage Joshua's career when the promising heavyweight announces his next move – expected in the coming week.Last month, there were clear indications that Joshua was on course to join the professional ranks when it was reported that he had signed with Aidy Ward, the football agent who oversees rising Premier League and England footballers Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Lewis’s representative in the UK confirmed that the former undisputed world heavyweight champion “was unaware” of the speculation in one national newspaper that he could be managing the professional career of the Olympic superheavyweight champion.
However, it is understood that Lewis has been acting as a mentor to the young star, as he did during the Olympic Games. Joshua has consistently said that he looks up to Lewis, and would listen to his wise counsel.
However, Lewis has held a promoter’s licence with the British Boxing Board of Control in the past – under Lion Promotions - and a representative from the Board confirmed to Telegraph Sport that Lewis had been “thinking of renewing that licence.”
It is understood that Golden Boy promotions are also in talks with Joshua, with Anthony Ogogo, Joshua’s GB team-mate and a bronze-medal winner in London, having signed professional terms with Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya’s company, in January.
Golden Boy Promotions have met with the Boxing Board and are in the process of applying for a licence to promote in Britain. They are also understood to be keen on signing gold medal-winning bantamweight Luke Campbell.
Joshua was out of action for four months until early March after a foot operation, but has spent the last three weeks back in training in Sheffield at the English Institute of Sport where the GB Boxing set-up is housed.
One team-mate within the GB set-up told Telegraph Sport that Joshua “is saying nothing, given nothing away and just says he’s just keeping his head down and working hard.”
The foot injury sidelined Joshua for the current round of the World Series Boxing tournament for the British Lionhearts, which includes the GB amateur boxers in five-round fights without headguards. GB needs to win two more bouts to reach the semi-finals.
Joshua’s superheavyweight place has been taken by 6ft 6ins Joe Joyce, the former fine art student who got his chance when the Olympic gold medallist stalled on signing up for the new format in amateur boxing.
