Tyson Fury . Genuine great fighter or personality driven legacy?

Personality driven.

 

He was great talent talent but he doesn't have a great legacy, in my view anyway. He has one really top class win against Wlad alongside a few notable but minor wins. He lost twice to the best fighter he faced, in my view pretty clearly and conclusively. He was never consistent in defending his titles against top contenders or even being active at all. His wins over Wilder are massively overrated as Wilder himself never had an amazing resume and was protected throughout his career. H2H wise he also has major stylistic deficiencies that would hamper him against other greats, such as his habit of pulling straight backward after throwing a 1-2, with his hands down, which got him knocked down multiple times.

And yes, I know some might respond with how that makes Usyk overrated. But in my mind whilst Usyk is bit overrated at the moment as a pure heavyweight he is absolutely top notch as a pure P4P fighter.

I think in the next 10 years people will not look at Fury's career anywhere near as kindly as his popularity dies down and people look at his resume objectively imo, whereas Joshua will actually come to be more respected for his more consistent resume of facing contenders.

 

If you think it was 'personality driven', you haven't really followed his rise.
He wasn't hyped or massively promoted basically until the ESPN deal after Wilder.
Yes, he was considered a big prospect, but he got the raw end of the deal for such a big prospect compared to others.
When he came back from Germany with all the belts, nobody cared. That media conference was like a book-club meeting at the library.

So he'd already beaten Wlad and Wilder by the time he got his big media deals.

If he'd had a better team and more consistent team from the beginning he'd had done a bit better, maybe beaten Usyk at least once.

He has bad character traits, yes, but so do most boxers. Imagine him with AJ's state-sponsored team from the beginning, instead of this raggle-taggle gypsy setup then the kronk fraud who nearly got him KO'd numerous times.

As for the circus fight, nobody calls out his trainer who was responsible for PREPARING his fighter for that and did the very opposite, completely underestimating the opponent. Remember that time Ben Davison was spending all day watching tapes of Wilder? That's what your job is. Sugar Kronk did nothing and dodged a bullet there.

 

he is a very good fighter but his resume is thin outside of Wlad and Wilder.

there’s guys like Joyce, Povetkin, Zhang, Kabayel, Bakole etc. all of whom he’d likely beat but they are not on his resume. You would expect him to have a a really good resume given his talent level.

 

Largely the same.

There's no question he didn't prove it, at least not to match the claims - you can't be the goat when someone else owns your soul.

At the same time... I think his personality was his greatest strength and greatest weakness - without that slightly blase and borderline crazy brain he could've been more dedicated, but equally without it I don't think he'd be the fighter he was either.

Easy to see someone and wonder if they could've been more - the answer is rarely yes, IMHO.

 

This.

I'll add my two cents and say that Fury also had a size advantage against every single opponent he faced and once he started relying on that more than his skill set (after Wilder 1) he regressed.

 

I feel he still has a lot to prove before he can be in the great category. If he beats Mak let's see where he goes from there, I'd like to see the fight but I dont think beating AJ will do anything for him now. If he wins then everyone will just say AJ is shot to bits anyway and if he lost to AJ then what legacy he has would be greatly diminished. Beat Mak, go after the winner of Dubois/Wardley and Kabayel should be considered, avoid Usyk though because that's another spanking.

 

If you add the qualifier "for his size" hes a historic talent. Theres just not a lot of good HWs above 6'7. Above 6'6 the fighter populaton takes a massive nosedive and by 6'8 theres no one left. Guys get too reliant on their size advantages and they never develop properly. For all thats been said about the era of the super heavyweight and all the advantages big guys have that is still the case today. And guys like Valuev and Fury are truly special to have overcome that.

Now if we take that qualifier away Furys the guy who would have handed the lineal HW title to an MMA fighter if not for the ref making a mistake. A bad matchup for Wladimir Klitschko at the end of his prime but who didn't really prove his superiority over this era by any means. And who along with Wilder, AJ and Usyk really scammed the fighting public by fighting the same inbred round robin of beatable and old opponents. Unlike Wilder, AJ and Usyk Furys antics are the thing that can be pointed too as the Sarajevo of the situation.

 

Bit of both

I do think the media hype, especially post-Wilder II, has inflated his image to a place where you can argue the hype and discussions around him don’t reflect how he stacks up against other ATGs historically..

However:
1) being 6’8 and 260lb+ with his size and movement is historically unheard of, and he’d pose a tricky puzzle for any historic HW to deal with
2) Fury objectively is very accomplished in the sport, having been lineal champion, held every major world title, and the Ring Magazine title twice
3) There was no establishment backing behind him, and no substantial media hype around him in 2015 when he outboxed lineal ATG Wlad in Germany.

Fury is not a hype job, but similarly he has benefited in recent years from British media backing and his drawing power as a cash cow.

 

Fury on his night can give any fighter in history a tough time and he only really gets up for opponents he deems dangerous where most fighters shrink when it gets tough.

He is a great fighter and he's sexy

If he didn't get complacent he could have won that first Usyk fight and Usyk is a generational great also even though people try to put him down. For context Usyk would box Holyfields face off..straight facts.

 

He was a Top 10 talent, who developed into a very good boxer, with not that great of a resume.

 

H2h great. Top 15 all time.

At his best, he'd be favored over every not great heavyweight, including Ike, so there's your answer.

 

He was better under his uncle Peter .. he's probably gunna be a HOFer but in terms of where he ranks historically i doubt I'd have him in my top 20 HWs... possibly top 25. At his best H2H he's a difficult proposition for most but hes not as good as he himself thinks he is. Usyk however is top 15 for me now.

 

good fighter with some great nights but some awful nights that you couldn't use the "best days behind him" excuse for. too inconsistent overall to be a true all time great in my eyes

 

Lets take personality to one side.

Fury is/was a very good but not a great fighter.