Fury Usyk I was their last dance

Fury clearly is the second best of the era, anyone who says otherwise has a personal problem with him.

You can also argue, if you really wanted to, he's the best of his era at HW in his prime (before 35 or so) when Usyk was at cruiser, because Usyk really came and snatched it at the end, but didn't have to fight Wlad, Wilder and plenty of other decent HW's.

The idea that Dubious is better than Fury is laughable, when he got stopped by Joyce and Usyk (in an uncompetitive fight) and his claim to fame is beating a past-it AJ.

The idea AJ is better than Fury is laughable, when he got stopped by Ruiz Jr. who is actually a one-hit wonder journeyman.

There is basically no way Fury loses to Joyce or Ruiz. Joyce is too slow and predictable. Ruiz is 6ft at best and obese.

 

I reckon AJ would take out Wilder with zero effort and the dudes AJ fought actually did have a legit shot at beating Fury, IE Parker, Povetkin, Ruiz etc. Not to mention he didn't lose to an MMA fighter in a boxing contest.

 

Yeah, we are going into a new era, so Dubois doesn't count.

The problem with saying that Fury was best in his prime is that Usyk is older than he is. I am the first to say that Fury is physically older--I said it many times--but it doesn't negate that fact and the counter-argument. So any idea that Fury was better in his prime is speculative. Also, there is the fact that he abandoned the game when he could have been proving as much due to "mental heath," which really had a lot to do with failed cocaine and PEDS tests.

As for AJ and Fury, they still have a chance to settle that. Yes, AJ has the worse of the losses, but the king-making wins are more numerous. And that Ngannou fight was more embarrasing than the loss to Fat Andy. Hopefully we will see that in a few months.

 

It's possible, maybe even likely, that Fury is the second best of this era. But the way for him to prove he was truly better than AJ, as his boxing contemporary and main rival, was to beat him. Which he didn't.
AJ lost during his prime years. And yes the Ruiz one was a bad one. But at least he faced - and sought out - the better competition and a variety of styles, even if he didn't always win. Fury did not, instead choosing to engage in less meaningful fights and cherry picks punctuated with occasional danger fights. I wonder if he had the competitive mindset of AJ, whether he would have been undefeated for as long? That's on him, and we shouldn't credit him for victories he hasn't had. As ever with Fury, I think the answers are somewhat clouded.

 

Dubois. Kabayel. Bakole. Ituama. There’s talent there to watch and follow.

And if you move down in weights, there’s a ton of talent to follow. Jesse Rodriguez is looking like he may potentially be a p4p great who ends up cleaning out multiple divisions. Naya Inoue is incredible. Hamzah Sheeraz is another potential great.

any time you are bored with (or don’t see much in) the current crop of HWs, move down in weights. There’s always great stuff going on. Other sports tend to steal big dudes with potential. A 5’4”, 115lb guy? What’s he really have to pursue other than boxing or mma? Weight classes are a great thing.

 

it’s not a good comparison. Bowe flamed out. Fury hasn’t. Despite his bad habits, he’s still the clear second best of this generation, and on the nights of both of his fights with Usyk, he’d have beaten any other current HW.

 

I mostly agree with this, but want to say that Ruiz is no journeyman. Put him in with an actual journeyman, he’s going to starch the guy inside of a few rounds.

 

This actually is how I felt when Vitali retired the first time round.

Not many people remember, but Wladimir was a bit of a joke back then. Byrd was the longest resigning champion but he didn't instill a sense of fear the way Lewis and Vitali had.

But then Waldimir came from nowhere to beat Peter, Byrd and rule the division for a decade.

When Waldimir lost to Fury the division was quite exciting with Fury, Wilder and AJ but the trio never got the fights we needed. Usyk then came along and did what the others had failed to do, but obviously he's about to retire himself.

I don't know where the next great heavyweight will come from, but I do know 20 years ago I never expected it to be Wladimir.