Is fury really a ATG heavyweight? Personally only see Klitschko as a great win the rest of fights have been against b-c level fighters wilder is and never will be a great boxer so don't even try to put him as some great opponent Thoughts??
Considering Klitschko's age, no. He's a HOFer for sure, but I'm not super high on Wilder, and again, Klitschko was old. 40 year old Klitschko/Whyte/Wilder/Cunningham are his only notable wins, Chisora is fringe notable. Maybe Wallin will do him a huge favor but I doubt it.
Of course he is. You don't put together a story like that if you aren't special. What he did in the 1st & 3rd Wilder fights (considering where he was at emotionally & physically) was the stuff of sporting greatness... it doesn't matter if you don't think he beats Ali or u dont think his resume stacks up.. you can only beat the best of your era.. Everything else is just hypotheticals. Fury has earned his place in HW history.
Fury's had four fights with two 6'5+ KO artist champions, both with 10+ consecutive defences. Correct me if I'm wrong but no fighter in history aside from Fury has beaten two reigning 10+ consecutive defence champions. Fury did this away from home in all of the fights, as the B-side and the underdog in 3/4 of the fights without losing once. Fury's performances against Wlad and Wilder 2 were by objective standards two of the most dominant elite level heavyweight performances ever. Fury has been Ring's fighter of the year twice now (2015 and 2020) and collected every belt in the process. He was inactive for 31 months, chronically depressed, consumed industrial quantities of junk food, booze and drugs, shed 10 stone in as many months and completed 14 rounds against two journeymen as his preparation for the first Wilder fight and had to deal with other adverse circumstances before Wilder 3. This in itself puts Fury way up there because beating no number of Ruddock's, Briggs's, Schulz's or Chagaev's equates to even one great win. But Fury's had his solid filler wins too: Cunningham was a 2x cruiser champion, never KO'd in 40 fights aside from by Fury, Wallin was a 20-0, 6'5, 236 lbs southpaw who no one other than Fury has beaten yet, Whyte, Chisora x2 and Hammer were all beaten in more dominant fashion by Fury than they ever have been before or since and they've fought a long list of good opponents collectively.
I feel we hand out atg too easy nowadays. Fury's resume is too thin and there are still questions left to be answered. If he beats Usyk abd AJ then you could argue ATG. Not with one wlad fight and Wilder.
Clusters with Riddick Bowe, Vitali Klitschko, Floyd Patterson, Joe Walcott, Ken Norton, and Tim Withersoon. Towards the top due to being undefeated.
Buts that's kind of the problem. Fury hasn't beaten the best of his era. Fury was 8 years old when Wlad took Gold in the Olympics. This content is protected Ortiz is 43+ Povetkin 42 Zhang is 39 (undefeated Olympian) -------------------- This content is protected Joyce is 36 (undefeated Olympian) Usyk is 35 (undefeated Olympian + Champion) This content is protected Joshua is 32 Ruiz Jr. is 32 Parker is 30 ------------------ That Wlad lasted as long as he did is testament to Wlad's greatness not Fury's. In other words, Fury has not beaten the best of his generation, because he hasn't fought them. I still hold out hope he does though and eventually comes out on top.
He's exactly within the Riddick Bowe bracket. If you think Riddick is an ATG, then Fury obviously should be too, if not then no. I however don't consider Bowe an ATG. Fury's career isn't over yet, so there's still time.
I'll be in a better position to place Fury when either or both of these 2 happens: 1) He fights Joshua or Usyk 2) Wilder fights another top 10 heavyweight
There's a reason why Fury is dead keen to come out of retirement to fight Joshua, but has suddenly forgotten how to say Usyk's name. He knows Usyk would be his hardest challenge to date and would be a fight he could well lose. So, as Fury does, talks his way around the situation and makes Joshua out to be a coward...
