Bruno: Fury would be eaten for dinner, in my day.

McCall had impressive longevity but that's about it. He's one of the lesser "alphabet belt" champs. He got that once punch KO over Lewis, then barely got past a flabby 45 year old Holmes, and was outpointed by Bruno.

He had a win over decent Italian Damiani, who was a good boxer but whose heart wasn't really in it any more and never fought again. And a KO over Akinwande when they were both getting a bit long in the tooth.
McCall in his prime also lost to an aging Tony Tucker, as well as Mike Hunter, Orlin Norris and Buster Douglas, and struggled to get a late stoppage against chinny Seldon (one of his best wins outside of Lewis).

 

Dont just read his career over boxrec tho buddy. Go watch the mccall v lewis first fight then go watch his fight over tony tucker. Its been that long its hard to remember how good or how bad these guys we,re. Although I,d have mccall beating most of the guys fury, joshua or wilder have beaten. Mccall might have been an average guy in his era...but i reckon he,d be a bit more than that in todays reckoning which is kind of brunos point.

 

Are we forgetting that boxing isn’t really a thing today in the States? Nobody does it. They go into basketball, football, mma whatever. Boxing isn’t on TV like it used to be when Ali was on, so you had that post-Ali conveyor belt where every young black kid with strong genes boxed. The talent pool was never ending in Bruno’s era. It’s non-existent today. So the standard is night and day.

 

To be fair the same argument could be made for that era that UK athletes with strong genes were far more likely to go into football or maybe Rugby depending on the region. Maybe you are right for USA fighters but internationally I'm not so convinced.

 

There were four boxing gyms near me as a kid. Busy.

Today? None. But three MMA.

 

That's true. But on the flipside, the USSR and most eastern european countries did not provide any professional boxers at all. In the 1970s and '80s, the Russians and Ukrainians, and the rest, stayed in the amateurs.

 

Would Bruno have beaten the Ortiz that fought Wilder in either fight?

 

I completely agree with Frank. Fury has become some sort of mythical creature. He’s obviously very talented but he’s also got clear flaws and a paper thin resumé. I cringe every time people mention him with greats like Ali or Lewis. He needs to wipe out the division before he retires before ever being mentioned with names like that.

 

Maybe the second time round when Ortiz was a little slower, but Bruno only has a punchers chance - he isn’t winning rounds.

I saw Bruno’s comments re Fury but haven’t read the interview. Does he comment on how he thinks Joshua would have done?

 

I know what you mean. I cringe when people mention Lennox Lewis and Muhammad Ali in the same breath. Lewis is not in that class.

 

Bruno is still wrong though.
The top guys from the 1980s and 1990s might beat Fury, but it's 5 or 6 guys maximum that you would make favourite, and none would be expected to completely wipe the floor with him.

 

The problem with Fury is he’s so tall. The likes of Tubbs and Holyfield, though far better talents with compact combos, wouldn’t reach him.

 

Nonsense. Fury is an oaf.