I was just thinking, 10 years from now, what will he be remembered for if he retires didn't? AJ - reigned for about 5 years and about 7 defences Wilder - reigned for about 5 years and about 10 defences Usyk - was undefeated and undisputed at cruiser and heavy in so few pro fights. Fury - had 3 title defences after beating a top guy For fury that’s better than the likes of a Bruno, buster douglas or Andy Ruiz. maybe a Sam peter? Povetkin?
Fury is a fascinating fighter to evaluate. He beat Klitchko....but Klitchko was old and it was a boring fight. In reality he beat Wilder three times....but Wilder was one dimensional, never that good, and had a smoke and mirrors record. He has only lost one fight and it was a razor close spit decision...but against Usyk he was out on his feet in the ninth round, he barely beat Wallin and the fight could have been stopped because of his cut, and arguably got a gift from the judges against the MMA guy. He is a huge very gifted fighter....but lacks discipline, doesn't always trains properly, and to some extent has squandered his talents.
If Fury never fights again I would rank him as one of the best boxers named Tyson Fury of all time. But I wouldn't even put him in the top 1000 heavyweights of all time. Beating a 40 year old Wladimir Klitschko and barely doing it doesn't get you ranked highly. George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe etc would of destroyed a 40 year old Wlad. Tommy Morrison, David Tua, Ike Ibeabuchi, Ron Lyle etc would of destroyed a 40 year old Wlad, Ali, Larry Holmes, Tony Tucker, a in shape Buster Douglas would of took a 40 year old Wlad to school and stopped him. Tyson Fury lands 86 punches in 12 rounds and casuals started calling Fury great. Then Fury beat Wilder. A guy who is 38 years old and still throws windmill punches. A guy who is pushing 40 and the best win in his career was against a 50 year Luis Ortiz who is best known for being stopped by Wilder and failing drug test. This is how bad the current heavyweight division is. If Usyk retires right now the same thing should happen. It should be considered a cruiser weight who moved up to heavyweight in a horrible era for heavyweights and beat a mentally damaged Anthony Joshua who is so bad he got knocked out by a mobidly obese Andy Ruiz and his best wins were against a 41 year old Wlad in a fight he didn't look good and against a 38 year old Alexander Povetkin. Then JUsyk beat the for mention Tyson Fury. A guy who is so bad he actually was losing to 180 pound light punching cruiser weight Steve Cunningham, getting knocked down by the guy and only won because they allowed him to forearm Steve in the throat.
He'd end up on the level of Bowe, I reckon. Had some great fights, and his comeback story is pretty epic, but he still wasted his prime years during that time, then after the ecstasy of the Wilder trilogy went on to waste his title reign on weak defences and a disastrous gimmick fight. Granted, Whyte being utterly shot by the time he finally got his WBC shot wasn't Fury's fault, but really did little for his legacy. Chisora fight was an embarrassment.
That guy must have been born in 2000 because he thinks 34 and 39 are young ages for a champion and that long term wear and tear have no bearing on fighters
I felt before the fight he was round about the Bowe/Vitali/Wlad level. I still feel that now. The loss doesn't really take away from his legacy, it just enhances Usyks.
Vlad defeated two undefeated contenders the year before facing Fury in dominant fashion. Vlad was p4p #2, and whether you find that tenuous or not, he was still on there. Vlad was still at the tail end of his prime which is why he was a 4-1 favorite over Fury. You can call him "old and shopworn" all you want, but no one thought he was shot before the fight. Hell, Joshua fans will tell you he somehow re-entered his prime at 41 to face AJ. Fight count is a terrible way to measure how much wear and tear a fighter has. There are fighters with 50 fights who are fresh, and fighters with 20 fights like Derevyanchenko who are TRULY shop worn. Fury didn't "nudge a victory", he did exactly what he intended to do which was disrupt Vlad and keep him guessing while winning the jabbing war. He won the fight by wide decision in Klitschko's back yard. He didn't have to flip through the gears he's shown in his later career. How entertaining you found it has nothing to do with the historical significance.
Wlad was 39. He was nowhere near his prime. And what AJ fans think is a moot point and of no concern to me. We’ll agree to disagree and move on.
39,7 years old to be correct, as he was closer to 40. Also he looks like a complete s*** against Jennings. Hell even against Pulev was clear, he just had his power, and his jab and movement is completely gone. Also everyone can look at his stats and see his punch output in his last couple of fights and how much it goes down to his previous ones. Slyk is first huge AJ hater, and then huge Fury fanboy. Arguing with such a combination is dangerous for one health. He had been proven million time wrong already, and still will repeat the same old ***.
It depends what he does in the next few years obviously. Usyk may well go down as the greatest heavyweight of all time, so as things stand, if he's the only mark on Tysons entire career, it's not exactly devastating to his legacy in the long-term. It diminishes him from being considered the greatest of all time of course, with Usyk always now going to be considered better than him, unless the rematch happens and Tyson can defeat him, but many of the greats have losses, far worse than losing to Usyk. Like Muhammed Ali, with 5 losses on his record, and like how he lost to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, only to beat them both in the rematches, and then in the third fights with them as well. Tyson may well go on to do the same, and it's far too early to write him off. Sadly modern boxing fans are very fickle though, and any type of defeat is seen as some huge tarnish to their reputation, that instantly diminishes their entire careers beforehand, but that just isn't true. In the long-term, as things stand, he's still going to go down as one of the great heavyweight champions of all time. Definitely in the top 10.
Not to nitpick but I am not sure there is a pathway to Usyk being the greatest heavyweight of all time. His body of work just won’t be large enough. Best of the current era though, no doubt at all.
