Neither was Fury. He was on the cusp of a mental breakdown Beating Fury was going to break a historical title defence record and Manny told Wlad Fury was a future champ so Wlad took that fight more extremely serious Wlad and his team make opponents go through extensive drug testing. Ask Pulev Fury wasn't allowed to fight in close. Only from range. Wlad still lost
"Fury didn't deserve to win." Champ Wlad's judges in Germany saw it very differently, had Fury winning with 2-3x the rounds Wlad did. Sad! "There are heavyweights who knocked out Wlad" Dear dear. In many ways 12 round decisions are more impressive than KO's, especially when the champ can barely lay a glove on you. Wlad was also MUCH harder to beat on points than KO, hence 4 KO losses but only 1 loss on points in 69 fights.
"Wlad really wouldn't have had to pick up the pace by much to beat Fury in a rematch" Assuming he could do so without getting countered and gassing out and that a Fury with the experience of beating Wlad over 12 wouldn't up the pace or change tactics himself (Fury was more well-rounded). Wlad was never able to force Fury to shift from plan A at any point. But who would have given Fury much credit for beating Wlad in a rematch? It would have been "Fury beat a 40+, more worn Klitschko in Britain, whoop de doo".
Eternal shame to Fury for running like a chicken from the rematch then. Somehow he managed to fight those useless dossers Wilder and Chisora 6 times between them. Says a lot.
I would have given him credit if he convincingly beat a more agressive Wlad. I also would have given Wlad credit had he bounced back from that loss to set things straight.
If there's a fight where a champion lands fewer punches on the challenger over 12 rounds than P4P No.2 Wlad did on Fury then send it over. Otherwise Wlad-Fury is objectively the GOAT 12 round win by this metric.
Screw Wlad. Fury was right to deny Wlad a rematch Even if Fury hadn’t become a morbidly obese alcoholic and cokehead, he’d have been right not to give Wlad a rematch: 1. Fury was Wlad’s mandatory, which under normal circumstances means no rematch 2. Wlad tried to stack the deck in every way possible 3. Where was Povetkin’s rematch? 4. Wlad gave Fury no credit, sore loser 5. A-side Wlad lost by 8-4/9-3 margins according to the judges in Germany (and wider according to most neutral observers), Fury had nothing to prove 6. Fury would have got little credit for beating a 40+, more worn, dethroned Wlad in Britain in a rematch and had Fury won by a less clear margin (let alone lost), the narrative would have been that Wlad 1. Had an off-night in Düsseldorf 2. Lost due to being past his prime 7. Fury denied Wlad a chance to avenge his loss or even improve on his performance and salvage his pride and reputation by going out on his shield, which hurt Wlad a lot more than losing again because there would always be a “What if?” 8. Dethroned Wlad went on to go life and death with Joshua in London 17 months later coming off a layoff, which raised Fury’s stock more than beating Wlad again and retiring him
He just needs to fight Usyk and AJ. If he dies that his record despite everything is great. - dethroned Wlad after almost a decade at away soil by outboxing him. - Arguably the best comeback ever in boxing after mental health issues. - faced the hardest hitter in boxing history, had a legendary rocky moment in the first fight, was robbed. Then beat him twice in his country. If he adds ATG cruiser Usyk, becomes undisputed heavyweight champ and beats his UK rival AJ then his career is legendary despite all the clown stuff, avoiding Wlad rematch or fighting Chisora 20 times.
It was virtually the same Wlad who fought Jennings and Pulev, just a very different opponent. Fury made Wlad timid, who was worried about gassing out and getting stopped. They had a 12 round chess match (which Wlad excelled in most of all) and Fury limited Wlad to the fewest lands ever. If Fury had stopped a gassing Wlad it would have just been a repeat of Puritty and Brewster 1. Fury would have got more credit in some quarters but ironically the win aged better by letting Wlad go life and death with AJ.
Like the awesome rematches between Wlad and Puritty, Wlad and Sanders and the immediate rematch with Brewster?
Irrelevant imo. Fury beat Wlad wide, in his backyard. It wasn't like he had to get something back. Wlad lost to Puritty (in Wlad's backyard) and Sanders (in Wlad's backyard) and let his brother "avenge" him, and didn't take the Brewster rematch until he had lost his title in a brutal war with Liakhovich and been inactive. Wlad had something to get back in all of those cases and only partially did so in 1/3. I don't care about contracts, they always favour the A-side fighter, the guy with more financial muscle behind him. If Usyk had broken his contract to rematch Joshua that would have been fine with me. Same with Fury-Wilder 3.