I suspected Fury was a fraud just 1 potentially disastrous fight away from being exposed. The Francis fight is damning evidence. I don't care how hard Francis hits or that he was tutored by Tyson, Fury has NO EXCUSE for not only being dropped, but actually STRUGGLING with a zero fight novice from a completely different combat sport. What can we conclude from this...? -Fury was heavily getting by on his tremendous weight and height (pun intended). The guy is NOT a "high IQ" technician. He knows enough to competently maneuver around the ring and win rounds, but I would attribute at least 60-70% of his success to his size. In other words, a smaller guy with Fury's skill and ring IQ would be a mediocre contender at best. -Fury's inactivity suggests if he were busier more people could have exposed him. This may be intentional from team Fury because they know he can't fight constantly against world class fighters. -His erratic behavior and substance abuse problems are further proof of his lack of discipline and a disaster waiting to happen. -Fury's chin is overrated. 7 knockdowns in 5 separate fights. Sure he'd gotten up multiple times, but those aren't the stats of an iron chinned guy. You can make excuses for how hard Wilder hits, but if Wilder had even a smidgen of ring IQ and finishing ability he could've been 2-1 against Fury. And there's ZERO excuse for Francis. -Overrated jab. It's long and annoying, but honestly when did Fury actually just shut a guy down with his jab the way Holmes, Lewis, Hearns, etc etc...? Refresh my memory. He paws with it and plenty of guys get past it. -Overrated footwork. He looks fast and nimble for a tall fat guy, but he's fighting in an era of muscle bound behemoths, slow plodders, and other fellow fat guys. How effective would that footwork be against a guy with decent fundamentals, skill, and speed? -Paper thin resume. An ancient gunshy Wladmir, the wild swinging Wilder (who has a shockingly thin resume as well), a pointless trilogy with the very limited C level punching bag Derek ****ing Chisora, and the glass jawed caveman Dillian Whyte. The worst part is, he has plenty of options and consistently failed to take on the various contenders of his era. He made tons of excuses or had convenient retirements/inactivity. -He marks up pretty easily. There are multiple fights where he has bruises, bad swelling, or ugly cuts. Could be a significant factor against other opponents h2h. -Where are the combinations...? Fury often prefers herky jerky motions, placing his shots at a slower pace, etc. When he does actually let his hands go, he looks so...sloppy and awkward. He lacks proper snap and leverage with ugly fundamentals. Fury is not a top 10 h2h monster. I'm questioning if he's even top 20 now. He can still redeem himself by beating Usyk (convincingly). If he tries to sail off into the sunset now, he is a a complete fraud even if we're just talking about historical relevance.
Looks good so far, he's a legitimate elite boxer who has had tremendous success in both cruiser and heavy. Good fundamentals and skill. The Dubois fight is a little concerning however, he seems to be weak to the body. Although not as bad as Fury, his resume still needs a bit more work before we can regard him as a major ATG/H2H threat.
The Dubois fight is a bit of an eye opener....and Usyk has got a history of being a bit vulnerable in the body. Can you imagine a prime Mike Tyson coming at Usyk ? hitting him with that right hook to the body ? But overall i agree we need to see a bit more of Usyk at Heavyweight....he's certainly proven himself at Cruiserweight but i think he's a bit overrated H2H wise at Heavyweight currently.
Fury looked out of shape and like he underestimated Ngannou severely. I certainly won’t use this fight to judge how he’d perform against other ATGs. The Klitschko fight and second Wilder fight were imo peak Fury
I don't know. I'm trying to not overreact. Hell, Louis got dropped by Tony Galento for God's sake. **** happens.
Ngannou is tough and Tyson wasn't his best. Yeah, Fury is still good but he doesn't have the body of work to convince me that he would destroy Lennox (or even prime Wlad) for example.
It was kind of funny how Fury’s feints didn’t work on Francis because Francis isn’t used to boxing in the first place.
Certainly not at 280, Fury's never had a good performance around that weight. Last time he weighed that much was in the Wilder trilogy match and he looked like **** there too. Fury's strategy of gaining weight to try and spark out Ngannou was **** poor as well, Francis isn't a 230 pound Deontay Wilder. He's over 270 pounds of muscle, he's the type of person you lose weight against to gain speed and athleticism. Fury weighed 248 against Klitschko, and 254 in Wilder 1. Fury was notably speedier in those fights. You can't dance around Ngannou with 277 pounds of Gypsy fat, and Tyson's never outboxed anyone at that weight either, he usually just used his weight. Bad move against Francis. In retrospect, this fight was a disaster waiting to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if Fury's fat ass didn't train at all
Lol that’s a good observation. Another one I thought funny and experienced fighters know this is new fighters r dangerous because they will punch when ur punching because they throw caution to the wins. Fury was not used to someone being so reckless and it caused obvious concern for Tyson