I remember that, lost 100 bucks on that fight. I had Fury winning inside the distance but as soon as I saw him holding back his punches, I knew I blew it.
This is a good post. Regarding Fury's mid close game though, I would argue that it's better than how it looked against Wilder. It looked very sloppy but it was very affective. Wilder is wiry and ungainly and as a result it looked pretty ugly to watch. However, despite that I think you're right, he won't get away with walking down Joshua without catching shots. Joshua has his flaws but so does Fury and everyone else in the division. Another thing, Joshua showed very impressive footwork against Ruiz albeit in a huge ring. He can box on the inside and on the outside equally well. It's a very tough fight for Fury. I don't think it would be 12 rounds of the same thing though. For example, if Joshua started flagging I'm sure Fury would then roughhouse him and go in for the kill.
41 year old inactive Wlad came forward against AJ and was outboxing him for most of their fight. He was applying educated pressure and utilising his superior boxing skills, not running in with his chin in the air and swinging wildly. How long had Fury been training in the Kronk style for Wilder? One camp? Fury is only going to be technically better going forward than he was in the Fury-Wilder rematch. AJ is technically better in most respects than Wilder but he is chinny, gasses easily and unlike Wilder, didn't display the heart of a champion when he was on the brink of defeat. He's also not as tall, rangy, twitchy or explosive as Wilder and won't be more than 10 pounds heavier. Fury isn't limited to one style against AJ and Fury's versatility makes it an unpredictable fight from AJ's perspective.
I do generally agree with you, but are you sure Joshua hasn't displayed heart on the brink of defeat? He hung in there while he was gassed and hurt against Klitschko. Albeit, Klitschko was also gassed and began telegraphing left hooks repeatedly. He went life and death to win that.
Klitschko hits 10 times harder than Fury, thats why Joshua stayed at bay sometimes and notice with all the right straights and left hooks he still didn't knock Aj out, so much for Ajs glass chin. Fury can beat Joshua if he boxes like he did against Wlad but not if he tried to go toe to toe with Aj Fury is overrated after the Wilder win. He is not better than Aj on the front foot. Are we to assume that Fury isn't vulnerable ? Aj is 10 times more skilled than Wilder, if Fury tries to fight Ajs fight he's getting destroyed. Do you not remember when Fury got dropped by cunningham and pijkic, both who are not known for there power whatsoever ? But you know what. I like this. You guys keep gassing Fury up and are leading him to believe that Aj is an easy fight and that all he has to do is pressure Aj. That is the worse possible thing Fury could do but Wilder believed his own hype and from the looks of it Fury does too.
AJ was only able to stay in there and take a few rounds off to recover because Wlad wasn't willing to risk going in for the kill. He was too cautious as a fighter in response to his prior loses; not willing to take out an unsteady Eddie Chambers for most of the fight, despite Manny Steward urging Wlad to finish him round after round. Wlad was winning by several rounds on any objective card so he thought he could just stall for points but in doing so he let AJ back into the fight. It was Wlad's risk aversion and physical decline not AJ's heart that won AJ the fight, if anything Wlad showed more heart after getting knocked down as he got up and went for AJ, almost getting him out of there and in the 11th getting up twice before the fight was stopped. Ruiz was a completely different story. AJ had been dropped 4 times, was gassed and concussed and Ruiz wasn't about to let him off the hook. The 4th knockdown was embarrassing and AJ's response was not to throw everything he had at Ruiz in one last courageous roll of the dice, but to quit. Some try to claim that AJ told the referee he wanted to continue after turning his back on the ref but it was very weak, his body language was off and his protest to the fight being stopped was meek. Say what you want about Wilder, he kept on fighting until the end and was furious when the fight was stopped. In the rematch, AJ was sh*tting himself whenever Ruiz got close and that stubby chubster is no Tyson Fury. Everything else aside, AJ lacks the heart and the confidence to beat Fury.
I do agree that Klitschko showed more heart against Joshua, than Joshua did himself. That was really an ironic, but redeeming epitaph for Klitschko. But I still think the argument regarding that bout is more addressing the extent to which Joshua and Klitschko showed heart, so if you were to claim he didn't show heart, there's an argument to be had against that. The Ruiz bout is an interesting study and I would't personally claim that he didn't show heart. Less heart than has been shown by other boxers over the years - yes. Less heart than others at the time would have shown in such circumstances - of course. He didn't show much heart in the rematch because he didn't have to. Ruiz made his own bed by eating his way to the loss before he even stepped into the ring. It was the right tactic so I can't blame him, but for others to argue that it was a tactical masterclass and an exhibition on foot speed and what not, I think is farfetched.
The mistake you guys make is to think that Fury and AJ are on a similar level when in reality, AJ is a hype job who isn't fit to lace Fury's gloves. Fury will take AJ seriously just as he did Wilder as this is a huge fight but in reality, one is a weightlifter with a pair of boxing gloves on and the other is an all-time great fighter. Physically, psychologically and technically it's a complete mismatch.
Apart from a few giddy adolescent, I don't think any normal boxing fan thinks this is an easy fight for Fury. I have it 55-45 in favour of Fury. But then again I also though Joyce had no chance of beating Dubois so there you go.. Still not 100% convinced this fight gets made, hope I'm wrong.
AJ won the titles at home from the man Fury defeated easily away 18 months prior, going life-and-death with the 41 year old Wlad who was well up in the fight but lacked the killer instinct to finish him off. AJ then lost and regained his titles by running away from a stubby, morbidly obese Mexican who had splattered him all over the canvas in the first fight, only for the Mexican to further balloon in weight for the rematch after months of partying and complacency. Being a two time champion is not inherently more impressive than being a champion and in many cases it's less impressive. Patterson was a two time champion but he wasn't on Sonny Liston's level.
Fury speaking very negatively about his own inactivity and whether the fight will happen or not, vibes aren’t great.
