If they both retired today, would Joshua or Fury have the better legacy?

This has been done a million times as resume or record, but I don't think they are ever going to fight to clarify, and we are getting to the end for both. So who has the better legacy wrapped up?

Some arguments...

FURY
Unseated Klitschko
Beat fellow "three kings" member Wilder
Fewer and less embarrassing losses in the books

JOSHUA
Most would say better resume
Better title reign
Cleaned up Fury's messes... the disappearing after Klitschko...Ngannou...Wallin
Fury has a lot of dodgy and controversial wins (McDermott, Ngannou, Wallin, Wilder 1)
Fury has a controversial PEDs bust

 

I would have to go with Fury he was the lineal champion after beating Klitchko also his best wins he did on the road against the forementioned Klitchko and Wilder. The other thing I take into account is that Fury was the underdog in the Wlad fight and two of the Wilder fights.

AJ's resume is also impressive but he beat an older inactive Wlad and was pretty much gifted his first world title against Charles Martin.

There really isn't too much separating them which is why I would still love to see them fight each other even though both are past their best I still think it will be a good fight.

 

Lost count of the number of threads there have been comparing Fury and Joshua's records/legacies, however you want to put it. The number of threads would be a record in itself.

 

Ok once more then,Joshua never won anything away from home and quit in his big American debut and never fought over there again. Joshua had some good wins during his career but he also never defeated any long standing Champions which Fury did twice.Matchroom did an incredible job promoting Joshua that nobody can deny and also protected there investment to the max with all the comforts of fighting at home,the A side BS and immediate rematch clauses etc heavily favouring there fighter. When Joshua fought Ruiz it was like a ton weight just lifted off his shoulders as the Matchroom burden of expectations hyped upon him left him with this loss . Both Fury and Joshua are not the fighters they once were and both should call it a day but no doubt the big money or Usyk retiring might convince them otherwise .

 

10+ years from now when both have been retired for many years, I would be shocked if Fury wasn’t held in higher esteem.

We can argue whose Klitschko win was better, but beating the man to become lineal champion is more historically significant than beating him when he had been inactive for over a year as an IBF title defence.

They both held the WBA/IBF/WBO, but Fury also held the WBC, and Ring Magazine twice. Winning every major belt in boxing (even if not simultaneously) is very rare and puts Fury in a very small minority of elite boxers.

Then there’s the losses against Ruiz and Dubois who likely won’t amount to more than a footnote in heavyweight history as temporary belt holders.

Joshua is seen to have more “depth” in his resume and the Parker win in particular is ageing surprisingly well, but it’s cancelled out by failing to face prime Wilder in 2017-18 and Fury stepping up successfully instead.

 

Fury.

There isnt a whole lot in it, but ultimately the big difference is AJ has been bounced around rhe ring by Ruiz and Dubois.

Fury has only lost in two close fights to Usyk.

Plus Fury got to Wlad first, and has Wilder victories.

 

Fury, only because he was THE champ and this matters in historic standings. They are pretty neck and neck when it comes to career achievements.

 

At least Joshua fought Dubois. Povetkin and Parker are better wins than Wilder IMO.

 

Ignoring legacy, I think Fury would be seen as the better fighter between him and AJ.

 

It's kind of #31a #31b for me. They will be remembered as two popular names but won't make it very high up on any lists.

Usyk is the true ATG of this generation. Fury and Joshua just ended up being two of the guys he beat. They could have been higher (and possibly still could) if they had fought each other. But Fury ultimately didn't fight X, Y, and Z, and Joshua didn't fight Wilder.

I give the edge to Fury merely out of respect for him beating Wlad in Germany which ended a long reign, but even that has a dark cloud over it due to his PED failure against Hammer which the BBBoC conveniently ignored until after the Klitschko fight...

 

AJ is a god damn bum. AJ fans are special type of special, you got suckered into making a bodybuilding bum into your hope and he got chinned off, get over it already.

 

AJ

look at their common opponents. AJ destroyed Wallin and Nnganou.

AJ fought top guys consistently.

 

Broadly how I see it... Except I'd give the edge to AJ - they'll be on roughly the same level, ultimately, though.


Between the PED controversy and the unwillingness/inability to rematch Wlad when he was desperate for it, the asterisk against Fury's close (but still respectable) win over Klitschko will only grow with time...
At the same time, the realization that Wilder was an exceptionally protected fighter and borderline fraud (I shouldn't say over-protected, it appears that he was protected almost exactly as much as he needed to be) will continue to grow in the wider understanding and this won't help Fury's legacy at all.

Then you look at the rest of their careers and Joshua fought at a consistently better level, didn't waste his prime and doesn't have anywhere near as much with an asterisk next to it... The Dubois loss probably looks as bad as it's going to - if he goes on to establish himself as one of the top guys in the next era, and I still think he probably will, that won't age too badly.


Fury will go down as one of the great "what-if" cases of boxing - the talent appears to have been there, but inconsistency and a massively flawed personality may have hidden how good he could've been... Then again, maybe that personality was part of how he was able to be so effective despite very limited power.

Joshua on the other hand probably couldn't have been too much more - the odd performance hinted he might've been able to be a bit better, but again personality was a limiting factor.


In some ways the weird thing about this whole debate is that it doesn't really follow the typical form for heavyweight discussions... Usually when two guys are roughly equivalent, fans in general (and these boards in particular) will be heavily in favour of the puncher over the pitty patty points fighter... And it's not as if either of them has a likeable personality to flip the cards either.

Funny.

 

Joshua gets judged for losing fights to opponents that Fury didn't face and for consistently taking tough fights rather than breaks between. Which I think is very harsh.

Styles make fights so nobody knows how Fury would have faired if on the same road as Joshua, but I do think there is a clearer idea how Joshua may have faired on Fury's path...
A less experienced Joshua overcame Wladimir.
I don't think Joshua would have done any worse against Seferi or Pianetta
We now know that Wilder struggled when stepping up against Parker and Zhang. Two fighters that Joshua beat (one in a unification, the other as amateurs). Now I know beating one said fighter means that it is a foregone conclusion but just using it as an indication, which is what many seem to do with Joshua's losses.
I don't think Joshua would have looked much different against Schwarz
We know Joshua looked more impressive against Wallin
Then back to Wilder twice (see above)
Whyte who we know Joshua overcame
Chisora after that
Then we know Joshua looked more impressive against Ngannou
Overall between the two fights each had against Usyk, I don't think there was much in it overall for either

That is very speculative of course and not any indication about how I think Joshua vs Fury could go, which I think could go either way very conclusively

Another point

Fury and Joshua won their first world titles Nov 2015 and Apr 2016
So within 6 months of each other
Come the end of 2018

Fury made 0 defences and was 1-0-1 in world title fights

Joshua made 6 defences won 2 unification bouts was 7-0-0 in world title fights

Even now in title defences

Fury - Wilder, Whyte, Chisora

Joshua - Wladimir, Parker, Povetkin, Pulev, Breazeale, Takam, Molina


Another point

Fury won his world titles on the road


Still a bit undecided atm

 

Joshua.

- Joshua has never been caught taking what Fury called "wild boar meat".

- Fury (should have) lost to Ngannou, Joshua easily KOed Ngannou.

- Fury fought negatively and used head games to scrape by Klitschko is a dull fight, Joshua fought like a man and stopped Klitschko in an exciting fight.

- both lost twice to Usyk, but with an honest referee, Fury would have been stopped in the first fight, while Joshua was never hurt as badly.

- Fury avoided contenders like Parker and fought non-contenders (like Seferi and Schwarz) and avoided the rematch with Klitschko and delayed the Usyk fights, Joshua never avoided anybody and promptly fought Usyk.