That's up for debate. AJ has been equally guilty of stalling fights. "If his name is Fury let it be Tyson Fury" comes to mind. Triangle theory doesn't work with boxing. E.g. Joyce beat Parker who beat Zhang who beat Joyce. Styles make fights. I'm not convinced AJ can beat even an old Wilder. Hopefully I'm proven wrong because that means they actually fight. Saudi money makes it possible and removes excuses hence Fury and Usyk finally fighting.
It’s hard for people now to claim to be the best of an era with so much ducking going on. Wilder, Joshua and Fury should have all fought each other and at least two of them should have fought guys like Ortiz, Ruiz and Povetkin. In all of boxing right now the only 3 with a claim to best of an era are Inoue, Canelo and to a lesser extent Crawford.
Its Usyk then everyone else TBH. Joshua and Fury still need to fight to decide who's number 2 for the time being, and then you have the next class slightly below them with the likes of Parker, Zhang, Hrgovic, Kabayel. I feel like the Heavyweight division will have a major turning point in the next 2 years or so and peoples opinions regarding the likes of Joshua and Fury could change dramatically.
That first sentance is simply not true and you must be really biased to say otherwise. AJ proved over the years that, with all of his flaws, he is willing to fight anyone and his resume shows it. As for Parker fight it was not a triangle theory, it's just that Joshua arguably beat a better fighter in Parker than Fury in Wilder.
If you were truly objective you'd realise all the promoters contributed to AJ v Wilder not being made. They want the biggest money they can and that will always cause problems when it comes to making fights. Pretending AJ isn't part of that problem is bias, he was just as carefully managed as everyone else. And yes, you are implying triangle theory. Just because AJ beat Parker doesn't mean he'd beat Wilder.
You need to check again as you’re wrong. 2015 - fury and wilder became champ, then fury disappears 2018 - wilder successfully defends against fury 2020 - fury beats wilder to become a champ again. Wilder had a 5 year reign with 10 defences AJ had a 5 year reign with around 7 defences Fury had a 4 quiet years with only 3 defences In saying that, there was a “wilder/AJ” era from 2016-2020 (thereabouts) with around 17 title defences. These were actually good active times. The fury/usyk era was quiet in comparison, 2021-2024 with only about 5 title defences causing a lot of frustration about how dormant boxing has become but nobody realising where to point the finger. More media fighting than in the ring fighting. this era is only 2022-2024 if you start it from when they finish settling the rematches with the champs they beat.
It is simply not true, Wilder turned down more money to fight AJ and decided on Fury. Joshua was the one trying to make the fight happen. Their record also shows it also, while AJ was facing decent opposition, Wilder was choosing bums. Moreover Wilder avoided Klitschko, while Joshua beat him. There is a pattern and what's more there are also real fight offers by Aj's promotion. If you don't see it, then I'm sorry but you're being extremaly biased. As for the triangle theory, I'm not saying Joshua beats Wilder because of Parker, I'm saying that Joshua beat better opposition in Parker, than Fury in Wilder. Also it is absolutely justified to think AJ beats Wilder, not only because of Parker fight, but also because Wilder turned down Joshua's offer.
Talking about bias, let me show you yours when it comes to why the fight failed. https://www.boxingnews24.com/2019/1...dmits-to-messing-up-100m-deontay-wilder-deal/ The ceo of Dazn admits he messed up the deal, yet you blame wilder? simply declining an offer does not equate to a duck. AJ declined the 50mill one fight offer, but nobody says he ducked. Wilder declined 100mill multi fight deal where he was disrespected and talked to like property. Wilder is a pretty value orientated person. Do you not understand him? Notice He doesn’t say “thanks mr excellency” every 2seconds just because Turki pays the most ala fury, Hearn, Warren. Etc. wilders team do not negotiate in the media and he doesn’t have a promoter so his pr isn’t the best. he has very respected people around him like Shelly finkle and Al haymon. They are not mess abouts. I think AJ is excellent and have massive respect for him, I believe he would fight wilder and visa versa but in the business it hasn’t worked out. Dazn held their hands up to that right now I think AJ beats him badly, but prior to him having his ayuhuasca and losing fury 3, I would have picked wilder in brutal fashion.
No, I don't think he was the best in anything that could be defined as an "era". Right after Wlad he had an argument, but retired instead of solidifying it Then again after Joshua had lost to Ruiz and he stopped Wilder, but Usyk was starting in the division then and has so far proven to be the best in it. So, no.
My vote goes to The Money in the Bag era. Joshua brought the bag. The bag brought Fury out of retirement. Wilder priced himself out because he couldn't fill his side of the bag and wanted a bag as big as Joshua's. Usyk keeps signing rematch clauses because he loves the bag. And now Saudi is the Mecca of Boxing (funny that) because of the bag.
If he retired after Whyte he would be regarded as the heavyweight Calzaghe: British, unbeaten, fairly thin resume, questionable top wins, but ultimately some decent wins and, yes, unbeaten. Meanwhile AJ has gone down more of the Froch career path I think looking back Fury's legacy will be tarnished more by a) the Ngannou SD and b) the Wilder wins ageing badly, than by losing to Usyk or avoiding the Klitscko rematch. You can also bet your bottom dollar the AJ Brigade -- who never went away, and simply went into hiding after Usyk-AJ2 -- will claim until the end of time that he would've KOd Fury. And maybe he would've done, but we'll never know as this era was full of hype and avoidance until Usyk (and to a lesser extent the Parkers of the world) decided to fight everyone
Fury was the No.1 HW from 2015-2020 (perhaps 2014-2022 on ability), despite his inactivity. From 2010-2020 Fury was the only fighter in boxing to win Ring fighter of the year multiple times and he's the last HW to win it since 1997. He became the only fighter in any weight class to dethrone two reigning 10+ consecutive defence champs, both on the road. He fought two of his three main rivals over this period a collective three times and was undefeated. Joshua and Wilder didn't fight each other and both picked up losses, Joshua to a massive underdog. Joshua then lost to Usyk in 2021, by which point I assume on current evidence that Usyk was No.1 and Fury No.2. Fury's reign as No.1 could extend as far as his win over top 5 contender/mandatory Whyte but Fury hasn't added to his record since then and was content to coast for 25 months, whereas Usyk would go on to solidify his dominance over Joshua, pursue unification and defend against mandatory Dubois before beating Fury.
