Will Fury give AJ a shot? Pros and cons from Fury's perspective

Pros:

- It's still the biggest money fight, not just at HW but in the entire sport of boxing, and one of the biggest money boxing fights ever (perhaps top 3)

- Beating AJ would be an ego boost and improve Fury's legacy: AJ is Fury's main "domestic rival", likely a future HoF too, and Fury-AJ would be "The biggest fight in British boxing history", with Fury likely fancing his chances of stopping AJ post-Prenga

Cons:

- Losing to "domestic rival", "stiff hypejob bodybuilder bum" AJ would be disastrous for Fury's ego and legacy; he would never live it down (especially if he lost by KO, which has never happened before), and as the long-time establishment "golden boy", AJ would be more likely to have a political advantage with the officials (at least if it's in London), as well as having a power punching style that ages more slowly, which is especially dangerous if there's a rematch clause

- Fury would get less credit for beating a four times beaten, twelve times knocked down AJ (who may take more losses post-Fury)

- Fury could potentially fight Kabayel or Gassiev, which would arguably be higher status (3x champ, with options for further unifications) and lower risk (no loss to the longtime rival)

- Fury would like to deny Hearn and AJ the opportunity and the mega payday/paydays, so that the resentful Hearn will always regret not signing him (as well as curse his father’s decision not to sign Fury), backing “Lossua” over him, not offering 50-50 terms sooner, allowing Fury to “steal” the Wilder fights, not bending over backwards to make the fight post-Wilder 2 and there always being an overarching sense of “what if?” for Hearn and AJ, who would always be in Fury’s shadow as a fighter

- Fury beating or losing to AJ would enable AJ to retire sooner, whereas not fighting him may prolong his career, which means his mental and physical suffering and the damage to his legacy

- Fury may enjoy denying the fickle and moronic public this “superfight”, especially as the British public never supported him over his “domestic rivals” until almost 5 years after he dethroned Klitschko, over 11 years into his pro career

- Fury not fighting AJ further reduces AJ's status: he would go down as having failed to fight Fury (and Wilder, his other main rival) because 1. He couldn’t stop playing A-side games, losing, needing rematches, "rebuilds" and “tune ups” 2. He and Hearn ducked

 

Many things, boxing prestige being most relevant here. AJ desperately needs Fury, Fury doesn't need AJ.

 

Except Fury didn't lose, whereas AJ has double the losses and never had the big wins.

 

The issue is he is a Wlad fanboy and a prissy, wet towel of a man.

 

Fury is the favourite but not a huge one, odds are 60-40 and over two fights, Fury is much more likely to lose one.

Fury losing to AJ would be a disaster. When a loss is sufficiently undesirable, fighters will often leave big money on the table to go another way. Ego, status and sadism are very real factors.

 

Fury is the shot caller here, no question.