Some people here give you a lot of stick but imo you are a good poster who talks sense, respect to you bro.
Cheers bud. Appreciate that coming from yourself. As painful as the splinters can be, with Fury we really do need to give him the benefit of the doubt. We had every right to dismiss him when he ballooned in weight and hit rock bottom, when he was getting dropped heavily by journeymen and cruisers, when he was getting gifts against domestic level opponents, and even back to his early pro fights when he lumbered around like a big lummox while punching himself in the face. When it has come to the big fights, he has always raised his game and delivered. He’s not someone who is going to build up an awesome highlight reel, but he’s an enigma code that’s very difficult to crack. Wilder is the guy above all else who doesn’t need to bother cracking codes, and can just blow the entire place up with a single bomb if it lands in the right place.
Regarding this, I think it's fair to say he's just about delivered. I don't think anyone would have made much of a fuss bar the usual characters had Wlad got a split/majority nod against Fury. It was such a horrible, niggly, low-action fight that plenty of rounds went by almost without anything happening. I honestly believe nothing could have changed in terms of what Fury has done in the ring, and we'd be dealing with a very different reputation if that verdict went against him. In some quarters he's the impossible to hit genius, but in others I think there are still a lot of flaws that could be exploited. That's not to say he's useless; he manifestly isn't. But I think the narrative of him looking average against average opponents and elite when he steps up doesn't quite fit. I think he just lowers his output, goes in entirely with a gameplan of winning via spoiling, and tries to keep himself in a position which is as risk-free as possible.
How can you root so hard for a pathological liar? I used to be a big Fury fan back in the day when he was wearing Free Palestine clothing, and saying stuff that most athletes are too scared to say ie Zionists run the media and banks etc etc. But he’s changed. Maybe I never noticed it way back then, or maybe it’s worsened but his constant lying and contradicting to fans is absurd. It is genuinely at the stage that when Fury says something, then just assume the opposite as being true. Then we have the “I’m giving all my Wilder purse to charity” which CLEARLY never happened.
He's always been the same I don't know why anyone expects any different. Fury is a great fighter but his one flaw is lack of power. He's the polar opposite of wilder.
BBC sport reporting that only 8,249 of the 20,000 seats at the arena were filled. They didn’t say how many of those 8,249 were actually purchased seats but surely its got to be less than 5,000? Are Arum and Top Rank relying on Fury beating Wilder and then trying to claw their financial investment back in the rubber match and a following unification fight?
AJ vs Fury would be a good fight, I dunno if it happens though? Here’s a question for you, what do you see more likely happening? Wilder stopping fury or Ruiz stopping AJ in the rematch? and then you’ve got the whole Hearn/warren stumbling block
Some good posts on this thread. I've always felt Joshua would give Fury his toughest fight. If I remember right, I thing Eggman (the poster who used to work in some capacity with Fury) said that Fury at one time admitted this. Fury is class as he is a great, elusive back foot HW. Against smaller, less than world class HW's (i.e. Chisora) he looks wonderful. He also performed well against tall, top fighters like Wlad and Wilder, but Joshua, whilst being tall like them, offers something these guys don't. Wlad and Wilder fight quite similar, even though they may not look it. They are predominantly jab - straight right fighters who will only commit when their opponent is standing in front of them. Wilder, obviously is a bit less cautious than Wlad. They rarely throw combinations, rarely throw a left hook (even though Wlad had a truly exceptional left hook), and both lack an inside game, too. Joshua, for all of his faults, from a fundamentals point of view, he puts his shots together well and is less predictable from a shot selection point of view. He doesn't usually get too reckless (the Ruiz fight, unfortunately being a noticeable exception to this point), and he has a good inside game. Joshua would try to land educated shots from the outside on Fury and not just barrel in on him like Chisora and the lesser fighters on Fury's CV did. Once inside, Fury will have to be on his game. He can't clown about and try to show off with Roy Jones Jr type of defensive moves, as AJ fires short, sharp, powerful, and relatively quick combinations on the inside. This is something he didn't have to worry about as much against the lesser fighters he has fought, and he didn't have to worry about at all against Wlad and Wilder as they don't trade on the inside. As for Fury's power, which has been mentioned a lot on here; he has OK power when he sits down on his punchers, but due to his style, he throws too many arm punchers. To gain Joshua's respect, he would need to sit down on his punchers more, as if he doesn't gain Joshua's respect, Joshua may decide to take more risks. I do think Fury can hurt Joshua, but if he does, can he finish him? As I said earlier, Fury is a great back foot fighter, but you see a real drop off in form when he fights going forward. He looks far more clumsy and awkward. He used to fight going forward far more early in his career. I'm assuming him being a better back foot fighter, and getting dropped by Cunningham, is the reason why he changed his style after the Cunningham fight. I know this sounds like I'm being pro Joshua and anti Fury. I'm not. I believe this truly is a 50/50 fight. It's just, well, Joshua's flaws and how Fury can exploit them are plain to see. I just pointed out what Joshua can bring to the table against Fury as those points are a little more nuanced.
Does Warren even have that much to do with Fury anymore? It appears more likely that he's basically involved from the perspective of UK television but presumably Arum is calling the shots. Put it like this; if Arum would rather see Fury fight Wilder next in Vegas and Frank would rather Tyson fought another Schwarz/Wallin in the UK, I'd bet the former happened.
Yup, they all have their flaws, Ruiz has been massively overrated and talked about like some invincible Mexican warrior, Ortiz is old as s**t and struggled to get Kauffman out of there, Wilder lost to Fury but got lucky because he has unreal power that gets him out of trouble, Joshua got it all wrong against the so called Mexican Terminator.......I never bet on heavyweight boxing unless it's a total mismatch and the odds are fairly decent considering.
I said after the Wilder fight that it was only 70% Fury and Joshua wouldn’t have let him off the hook the way Wilder did. Wilder didn’t really have the boxing brain to capitalise on his (limited) success. I think Fury that beat Klitschko schools Joshua but now I’m not sure he can even reach the level he was at during the Wilder fight. So yeah I have it pretty much 50-50 but let’s see if/how Joshua overcomes Ruiz and then it will be subject to change.
The way to beat Fury is clearly to get inside,up close and rough him up. There is no way he can win exchanges with heavy hitters whether it's Joshua, Ruiz or Whyte. I think Parker would cause him major problems as well. Wilder is actually a decent match up for Fury as all he is interested in is head hunting from range on repeat which plays into Fury's only real strength which is his length and size.
