Lennox Lewis, Britain’s finest ever heavyweight until Anthony Joshua extends his legacy to prove otherwise, believes Tyson Fury can outbox Deontay Wilder over 12 rounds when they meet in Los Angeles on Saturday night. That is on the basis that he frustrates the champion the way he did when taking the lineal title from Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. But if the fight is short then, according to Lewis, there is only one winner: Wilder.

Lewis, who retired in 2004 after holding the world title three times, told the Guardian from his home in Canada last night: “It will be one of the great comebacks if Fury wins. I see him more of the boxer. He can frustrate you, especially when you can’t hit him. Deontay hasn’t been against a guy that can move as well as he can. And they’re both big men. If anyone can catch Fury, it might be Deontay, with his long arms. If it’s a distance fight, it’s Tyson Fury. If it’s a short fight, it’s definitely Deontay, because of his power.

“I think Fury can employ the same tactics as against Klitschko. It’s always frustrating fighting a guy who is taking the mickey out of you. And he’s that type of boxer, treating it like a game. Deontay doesn’t have that much experience, they’re both in that learning curve.”

Nor does he see a problem for Fury fighting in the US for only the second time in his career. “When you box in America it depends on where your mindset is. It’s really just another fight – and it could be anywhere in the world. Once you’ve got a guy in front of you it doesn’t matter where the fight is. He should react like it’s any fight. This guy is trying to knock him out, so he has to protect against that. I think all champions should fight around the world.”

The reason he trusts Fury to remain focused – even after just two perfunctory lead-up bouts – is that he is the one who wanted to go to the champion’s country and create history. “This is heavyweight boxing. There’s a lot of pressure,” said Lewis. “But he’s the one who says he wants to box Deontay. I commend him for stepping up. I would have wanted to do that. These guys show the determination needed.

“It’s a recipe for a great fight. They’re going for it. Fury has a big weight on his shoulders, boxing in another country, but he took that. The pressure shouldn’t get to him, because he’s the one who put himself in that situation.

“I think he’s ready for it. He’s lost a lot of weight, taken training pretty seriously. Nobody can tell until he gets in the ring. But Fury surprised me. In the past, I’ve asked before a fight, who has he prepared with – like when he fought Klitschko – yet, when he goes in and fights him, he turns up for it. How will Fury react when he gets hurt? Is Deontay able to finish him? Fury is a survivor, he knows how to survive. That’s why it is interesting.

The obvious next step for the winner would be to challenge Joshua, who owns three of the four belts, and Lewis agrees it should happen in 2019. “I imagine that’s the countdown, to face AJ in a year or so. Everyone wants Joshua,” he said. “When you’re at the top, this is what happens. I think both have a chance against Joshua. Any punch that lands is a crushing blow for any one of them. I would say Deontay would hurt Joshua more. He has hurt guys without even hitting them on the chin or temple.”

And while he doesn’t accept that the winner on Saturday would surpass Joshua in the general reckoning as the best heavyweight in the world, he does think all of them could have lived with the great heavyweights of the past.

“I think it would be interesting with all of us. I’ve thought about myself boxing each one of these guys,” said Lewis. “They are way bigger than heavyweights of the era when I was boxing. It gets down to skill. Right now, they’re still learning. The only way they get better is by boxing each other. They will gain in experience and how to deal with a guy with that kind of skill.”

Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury is on BT Sport box office