How Do The, Fury V Wilder Fights, Compare To Other Great Fights From The Past?

Futch couldn’t anticipate Foreman walking in like a robot that pushes and throws uppercuts. He only had two chances.

 

In heavyweight history, it ranks up with the best of them.

All three fights were for a heavyweight title. Two were for the lineal title. Five knockdowns scored by Fury. Four knockdowns scored by Wilder. All three fights attracted an international audience. Both fighters were colorful but couldn't have been more different from each other - in terms of personality, style and background. Both had diehard fans and hardcore haters. The fights had controversy. They had moments that will be remembered forever.

It wasn't a battle between two Americans. None of the fights flew under the radar. None of them were non-title fights.

Compare it to a series like Ali-Norton, for example. Two of the three fights were non-title affairs. Norton wasn't known even by most boxing people when he signed to fight Ali the first time. Their first fight was held on a Saturday afternoon on free TV in the U.S. because it was supposed to be such a blowout. Neither boxer scored any knockdowns in any of the fights. The most dramatic part of the whole series may have been the reading of the scores for each, not physically anything that actually happened in any particular round. (People can't even identify the punch that broke Ali's jaw in fight one, or if it happened in the second round or the last round.)

 

First fight was boring as heck till the last amazing round. The fact that it was “a draw” is a black mark on boxing. Should have never been a trilogy as Fury clearly won the first two fights. Wilder put forth his best effort in the third fight. Which was the most competitive of the three.
As far as entertainment goes they were pretty good imo. I didn’t get bored in any of them like I did for AJ v Ruiz 2.

 

Because he knocked Wilder out and Wilder offered little resistance as he was clueless about fighting backing up or fighting on the inside. It was obvious he didn't take Fury seriously when he warned Wilder he would change tactics.

Fury threw plenty of sloppy punches in the 2nd fight. He looked good primarily because of the poor quality of the opponent. It's understandable though because Fury was attempting to become a front footed fighter for the first time with a new trainer.

 

Foreman had one of the best control games and long guards in the division's history. Frazier was in possibly worst stylistic match up he could have gotten himself into.

Eddie Futch had almost no time to make adjustments, and frankly he can be excused for Frazier's poor performance since Joe had only himself to blame by turning his training camp into what Eddie described as a party.

 

I’m not a fan of HW’s in general including their series…but it is certainly in the upper echelon of great HW series.

 

In terms of HW trilogies, it's right up there.

I mean big HW trilogies, from top of my head:

Charles vs Walcott
Patterson vs Ingo
Ali vs Frazier
Ali vs Norton
Holyfield vs Bowe
Holyfield vs Ruiz
Fury vs Wilder

Have I missed any off? Obviously the coloured champions had dozens of fights with each other, but I think from after that point I've covered them all.

Anyways if I had to rank those trilogies, in terms of significance and enjoyment

I go like this

Ali vs Frazier
Holyfield vs Bowe
Fury vs Wilder
Patterson vs Ingo
Charles vs Walcott
Ali vs Norton
Holyfield vs Ruiz.

So there you go, it's as good as any.

 

Right up there in my opinion.

It was a very exciting and memorable trilogy, that kept delivering the unexpected.

I remember watching all three fights very fondly.

 

I suppose it was better than the Holyfield-Ruiz trilogy. But. Other than a few moments of drama there was a distinct lack of skill and suspense.

 

"he was clueless about fighting backing up or fighting on the inside"

...against a 6'8, 270 lbs master boxer undefeated lineal champion. Wlad was clueless, Chisora was clueless, Whyte was clueless, Hammer was clueless. These fighters didn't look clueless when they fought anyone else in their combined 175+ fights.

"It was obvious he didn't take Fury seriously when he warned Wilder he would change tactics."

Sure, Wilder didn't expect it but you can say similar things about many of the great wins. "He didn't fight smart", "he wasn't properly prepared" etc.

If AJ or anyone else in the division had adopted those tactics there's a very high chance they would have got Breazealed.

 

Except for the 2nd fight where wilder got dominated I think it was a good action packed trilogy. Two heavyweights slugging it out for the tittle and exchanging knockdowns. About as good as it ever gets.