Lennox Lewis believes David Haye has got the talent to topple Nikolai Valuev - but admits he faces an uphill battle.

Haye will be conceding almost a foot in height and anything up to four stones in weight when he takes on the WBA heavyweight champion in Nurnberg on November 7.

Lewis, who was the last man to unify the heavyweight division and now works as a boxing summariser on American TV, admits the physical differences will make it tough for the challenger.

But he also has faith in Haye's skills and is refusing to rule out an upset.

"David Haye has a lot of talent," he told Sky Sports News.

"He's very talented, very quick, good on his feet and he throws good punches.

"But he's boxing against a guy who weights a lot more than him and way taller than him, so he has an uphill battle - but he does have the talent to do it."

Lewis, making a rare public appearance on these shores, was in Leeds meeting young people from the community project Positive Futures.

They were launching the new boxing and martial arts initiative Lennox Lewis for Positive Futures.