Lennox Lewis believes the current period of heavyweight boxing will someday be synonymous with Tyson Fury's name.

The British heavyweight great knows something about being remembered fondly. Lewis was arguably the top heavyweight in the world in the 90s and early 2000s and a household name, a position that Fury presumably finds himself in today.

Of course, Manchester's Fury, the WBC titlist, has business to take care of on Saturday, a mandatory defense against countryman and former sparring partner Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in London before an expected crowd of 94,000, but Lewis believes Fury has already “cemented” his legacy, thanks to his trilogy with the hard hitting Deontay Wilder. After drawing in the first bout, Fury won the second bouts decisively, stopping Wilder in each encounter.

“Yes, absolutely,” Lewis told BBC 5 Live Boxing when asked if this era would be recognized as “The Tyson Fury Era.” I think those fights with Deontay really cemented it. Showed him that he beat really the baddest guys out there. This guy basically – I’m talking Deontay – has a knockout record which is big.

“The only person he couldn’t knock out is Tyson Fury. He knocked him down but couldn’t knock him out.”

Lewis would not tip his hand on how Fury-Whyte would play out, but he marveled at Fury’s self-assurance and unique boxing ability. Only Fury can beat himself at this point, Lewis said.

“He’s got amazing confidence right now,” Lewis said. “The only thing he can lack is himself. Only Tyson Fury can beat Tyson Fury right now. That means if he’s not focused, if he sticks his chin out there, if he plays around, that’s the only thing that can beat him.

“But if he’s focused going in there and knows what job he knows what to do he’s hard to beat. He’s a hard man to beat. You’re talking [about] a man [who is] six-foot-nine, moves both ways, moves very well on his feet, boxes orthodox, boxes southpaw, and not easy to hit. So he’s going in there with a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”

Lewis seemed to suggest that the best chance for Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) at upsetting Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) is to be as aggressive as possible.

“If Dillian comes out and tries to catch Tyson Fury then all of a sudden Tyson Fury’s the man,” Lewis said. “But if he comes out into the fight and he’s, like, aggressive and trying to get at Tyson Fury, that makes it a different fight. Styles make fights.”