Hell, I recently rewatched it with my father. Only this time, I'm older than he was when we watched it the first time.
Well my mention of his enormous weight had nothing to do with any claim he was too heavy in the first fight and i have never said anything remotely akin to it so i will leave this one alone. Anyone saying he was too fat and heavy in the first fight obviously said it before the rematch ever took place. He was however still rusty and getting back to his best form for very obvious reasons. Oh the joys of debating on the general forum!!! I will definitely leave that one well alone. I have to admit i didn't look much at the debates going on in Gen. I keep it short and sweet in there and barely ever debate in there. A bit of poor form here GCC. Above you are claiming Fury "gassed" in the third fight. Barely two days ago however you stated this in post #354 - "Fury did not gas in the 3rd fight. Yes he got dropped twice but he was very game, determined, and mentally as tough as he ever was. There is nothing whatsoever to indicate he was worse than the 2nd fight." You can't have it both ways. If chok or someone did this they would be torn to threads. You are saying he gassed when it suited your take and then saying he didn't gas to suit another take. You complained just above about the guys in General contradicting themselves. I'll leave it at that. Well Wilder is a dangerous opponent and a good to very good win because of that big power in the right hand. I don't think he's near as good as some fanboys make out but he's still a notable win. I'm actually not 100% sold on Fury yet either. Well it's all debatable. There's no cocksure answer. Was it a better Wilder, a worse Fury, or a combination of both? The common sense guess for me would be a bit of both but i'd hardly debate it to death as we'll never know for sure. He backed off in the first round to take a look at Wilder's more aggressive approach. The wariness was fading by round 2 and Wilder was no longer doing what he had been. Fury started to stand his ground more and look to land some telling punches. It can and you are correct to the letter of the dictionary but most of the world actually class it as 3 or more as does everyone I've ever met. Regardless Fury wasn't confused in the second round. Wilder had late round stamina because no-one ever pressed him and he was able to conserve. I've seen him gassing fast after an attempt to put someone away. His stamina is poor IMO and possibly worse. The fact is that Wilder was not "completely spent" in one or two rounds in fight two. I suggest that you go and watch it. If you think he was "completely spent" in one or two rounds you are dead wrong. Midway through the third Fury started to get more punches through and there was more wrestling before Fury dumped him on the canvas. Wilder never recovered from this and struggled physically thereafter. He'd never been pushed or punished like this. He wilted. He didn't recover. Fair enough tho i disagree with how he looked as covered above. Yes that's entirely fair. Absolutely. He doesn't however go on some big streak for years as he's just not that good. Of course all this is based on him not fighting Holmes. Fair enough. In the end you nailed what i was implying with your other comments anyway. Yes there was no choking or lack of effort. Again you nailed it - he's just not that great of a fighter or finisher. On that we are in 100% alignment.
I don't think that's much of a layoff for a veteran. All sorts of top fighters are looking fine coming off that sort of layoff due to COVID delays. Vitali went twice as long and looked good. When you look at what Tyson did to Williams, Spinks, and Berbick compared to what Holmes did, the outcome of their fight isn't surprising.
I have no idea how to rate Wilder and because of that I have no idea how to rate Fury ... I think Wilder may be the worst fighter to hold a title I've ever seen but he was so damn dangerous for the obvious reason .. because of that , no matter how much I like him and admire his courage, I don't know how good Fury is .. I'm very curious to see if he beats Dylian White ..
