Tyson Fury . Genuine great fighter or personality driven legacy?

It’s hard to know Fergy. He thought it was enough to tell everyone he is the GOAT and we would buy into it. Unfortunately he didn’t prove it in the ring. Personally I think he had excellent skills but didn’t live the life and it’s cost him.

 

In my opinion Fury is a great fighter.

 

Huge hype job. The fact that this is a question shows how far the heavyweight division has fallen.

 

Great talent that could’ve been much greater, like Bowe. He’s probably among the 5 most skilled super heavyweights to exist. His charisma and personality, along with his story after the Wlad fight and between the Wilder fights, did a lot as well. His comeback; mentally, physically and career-wise during that period is film-worthy.

However, I think his public downfall began with Chisora 3. Then blatantly outpricing himself and ducking Usyk, choosing to fight Ngannou then going life and death with him, then lose twice to the guy who your demeaned as a middleweight rabbit whose too small and unworthy to fight him unless it was like 70-30 or whatever it was.

He could save his legacy a bit if he comes back and beats someone of the calibre of Wardley or Kabayel, maybe he could go down as a great if he does.

 

Genuine great fighters would've had no issues with Ngannou.

 

He's a great example of someone who is a minor great of a division, and it's easily and understandably argued either way. He can fight great on any given night, imo. Definitely not a great sitting champion, which I feel he tried to warn us ahead of time he wouldn't be. He's a thoroughly interesting competitor who can't be even casually appreciated on any one fight without a lot of context, in a somewhat unique way, relative to others. He's not a top ten heavyweight, for me, or top 15.

 

personality driven legacy

 

Not great yet but if he has a good run and beats Wardley or Joshua, he'll clinch it.

 

Decent skills, but, more hype than substance. He was fortunate to fight in a weak era. (Further helped by avoiding some of the decent fights that could have been made like Joshua). Usyk conclusively ended any serious inquiry about whether Fury was a great fighter. But, he has a great fighting heart. If only his dedication matched it.

 

Is a Joshua win worth that much now?

 

1. Fury's not that far off that he needs that much...just to build the legend.
2. It will be the only data we have for who was the indisputable best between Klitschko and Usyk
3. Is Fury that much in the other direction? The guy who lost to Ngannou? Maybe if he beats Wardley first.

 

I don’t know. He won lineage by decisioning a 39 year old Wlad who had nearly 70 fights of mileage on him. Then he takes 2.5 years off from the ring. He returns and to his credit fought 3 great fights with wilder and wins the trilogy ( probably the biggest achievement of his career. ) then he follows up with some underwhelming performances with intermittent periods of inactivity before before losing twice to Usyk. I acknowledge that he was a good fighter and a formidable opponent. But I don’t see him as an all time great. I think a lot of his legacy is built on popularity.

 

Tyson Fury had some talent, size and decent skills.

But he was of weak character and wasn't even intelligent enough to take good care of himself and keep himself in good shape.

So, although he may have had the potential at one time to become a great fighter, he fell far short of the mark despite his advantages in promotion and dodgy officiating.

 

When Makhmudov knocks him out let's revisit the topic