Is Fury the worst 'recognised' Heavyweight Champion in history?

I've half a mind to call foul on Ingo and George.

But not quite 13/25 of a mind.

 

Any fighter winning various world titles away from home and making some form of defences is in no way the worst of all time


However Fury is a massive disappointment and has ruined all the hard work he put in to get back to championship status

The dosser

 

Not the worst, but he’s certainly been a bad ambassador for the sport with all his shameful ducking tactics.

Fury is a funny character, he has charisma, and that’s why I always liked to follow him earlier in his career. For years, like many fans and casuals alike, I’ve been anticipating a big Fury v Joshua fight which has never materialised and from what I gather it’s Fury’s fault and he has to take the blame for not giving the fans what they want. It shouldn’t even be a want, in a professional sport the best should be made to compete against the best. If any competitor isn’t willing to do that then their ranking is a false status.

I used to dislike Joshua because of how robotic he is and how he seemed like a manufactured boxer who was gifted Olympic gold and built up into a PPV star by the match room machine. These days however, I’ve changed my tune, because while Joshua has been proving that he’s a genuine fighting man walking the walk against the best available competition - Fury’s been talking the talk about how he’s a born and bred fighting man, yet doesn’t back his words up and chooses to debase the sport with his smoke and mirrors deflecting and redirecting whenever a top 10 HW comes calling.

Fury is basically a fraud in boxing, masquerading as a champion. That he was allowed to drag Chisora out of retirement, whilst the corrupt governing body engineered the rankings to make it a legitimate title fight, is testament to how far the sport has fallen.

Fury just wants to maximise his income while minimising the chance he takes a L. He wants to retire unbeaten so that he can forever brag how he’s an ATG HW.

It’s fair enough that he doesn’t want to take punishment; he’s got a big family to look after, so he should really just retire already. He needs to stop fleecing the fans, and disappointing us all, but since he’s had a taste of the big money / easy fights he doesn’t want to let that go.

All the money in the world however won’t help him when the dust settles and he knows deep down that the real fans can see right through his BS. That will eat away at him. Hopefully it doesn’t make him turn back to the drink and drugs too much!

 

After reading all the comments yours hits the closest,,"Massive Disappointment"

 

He has to be one of the worst stallers.

Getting him to make the big fights shouldn't be this difficult.

 

This, one hundred percent. In terms of ability and talent, he is exceptional so obviously way above the level of a Martin or a Stiverne.

But in terms of how he carries himself as a champion, how he was an ambassador for the sport, how he responded to challenges to build a legacy… I honestly can’t think of a weaker, more phone champion in f the last 50 years (at the very least). People can talk all they want about how the skills of Primo Carnera or Ingemar Johansson were subpar to anyhting Fury can offer but those guys carried themselves as champions and tried their best - as champions should. Fury doesn’t do any of that and that’s why he has always been a fraud who managed to beat an ancient ATG in between two scandals, retirements, PED bans, ducking of top opponents etc.

 

I think you are mixing up Sharkey and Max Schmeling.

 

Leon Spinks?

 

Just one more thought on this...

I wonder to myself: How was this not predictable? He has very public drug problems. Including PEDs, apparently. He is not only known as a BS artist, but is admired by his fans for being a BS artist. He comes from a family that (at least publicly) identifies itself with an illegal bareknuckle fighting subculture, and they talk like carnival people. His career had a circus atmosphere even before the championship.

Then you hand this man huge sums of money, the heavyweight championship, and lots of media attention.

Why are people surprised that he takes long hiatuses, has drug issues, eats too much, promises things that he doesn't deliver, says things on Twitter that offend people, and cynically hypes up worthless fights to the public?

If you want an active, long-reigning champion, you are generally looking for dedicated, relatively boring professionals like Louis, Hagler, Holmes, Lewis, or somebody like that. Heck, even Wlad. This isn't to say that these men were better or even greater than Fury. Nor does it mean they were problem free. But they were consistent. They gave boxing fans regular fights and long careers to watch. You don't want people like Willard, Douglas, Fury, or others of that sort. Not if your goal is an active champion.

This isn't a shocking new pattern. We've seen it before. A lot.

 

Tyson Fury head-to-head would be a difficult opponent for any heavyweight in history, he's huge and has some very good boxing skills.

But when it comes to character, he is definitely one of the very worst. He's greedy, selfish, arrogant, untrustworthy, attention-seeking, weak-willed, impulsive, and narcissistic.

 

Cmon, give Tyson Fury some credit. I could be argued that as a heavyweight world champion, he ranks ABOVE Bermane Stiverne.

 

Nah, his Wilder wins were better.

His Wlad win ranks with Tyson over Holmes, Marciano over Louis, even Holmes over Ali.

 

None of those guys would have won had their opponents been at prime, and neither would the Big Gypsy.

 

IMO it's Jess Willard. His "reign" of over 4 years, during which time he defended the title once. As well as the way he lost the title to Jack Dempsey... Tyson Fury is still a better recognized champion than Jess Willard.

 

Brilliant post.