I even question how hard Joshua really hits, he has emphatically dominated and stopped anyone good since Povetkin (who still gave him trouble). He’s clearly behind Usyk, Fury, and Wilder when it comes to the best heavyweight of this era. Hopefully we finally get him vs Wilder to settle who’s the best once and for all (I think if it ever happens Wilder absolutely annihilates him).
Now its on to usyk. Choosing them two old plodders was just business. Outside of the biggest names chisora and whyte sell more ppv,s that say hrgovic or whoever else isnt wilder, joshua or usyk. Not furys biggest fan. But he kind of proved himself against klitchko then taking on wilder probably a bit too early in his comeback then another two times and now usyk. I agree furys on the slide and hes not as good as he once was. But mainly his professionlism is clouding peoples judgement a bit. He was bad against ngannou. But he was good against chisora whyte and very good in the wilder 2nd fight. Hes either not prepared well for ngannou, grew old overnight or ngannous a bigger handful than people realise as opposed to him not being any good after his comeback. Chisora and whyte have gave everyone work. I think your argument would be valid if fury struggled with them or they gave him a bit of a fight. Not sure i agree....when he pretty much beat them without breaking a sweat. Knocking wilder about the ring in the second fight etc.
Agree with the OP Fury's talent isn't in question IMO. A driven Fury should mop up the division (or should have done years ago). I do agree with others though that Wilder 2 was a great version of Fury. It's clear to see the levels between his performance in the 2nd fight and the 3rd fight (which IMO he didn't take as seriously). I really enjoyed the 3rd fight and was rooting for him all the way, but realistically he came very close to losing that 3rd fight by KO. Similarly I don't think he took Francis seriously. Now the obvious reply to that statement which I've seen many times is that Fury and his camp (including the most straight talking of them all Shane), claim that he had a full 12 week camp and did take it seriously. I don't believe that statement, but either it's true or it isn't, which gives two possibilities. 1: Fury did take Francis seriously - In which case Fury is essentially finished at the elite level. May seem like crazy talk, but the guy has no business holding the number 1 spot going life and death with an MMA fighter. 2: Fury didn't take Francis seriously. - I believe more likely. As OP pointed out the guy clearly struggles to keep in shape and train for fights to his full potential. The one benefit of this is that he still potentially has the capability to put in elite level performances. The thing that isn't clear to me is why his camp would defend his training so much. Like publicity wise it's surely easier to blame the prep and go again for Usyk. Can only think that is them trying to play possum and hoping/knowing that if he knuckles down he performs better. Again, if it is actually correct that that was him at his best after 12 weeks, he has absolutely no business turning up in Feb. The answer will become clear in a few months.
I think fury would rather feign injury/retire than jump into the Usyk fight knowing he’s shot. I know money talks but Fury would rather retire undefeated with 30M than retire with a loss/back to back poor performances and 75M in the bank. Fury was god awful against Ngannou but I think he’s going to do the business against Usyk after watching the press conference. If he beats Usyk in style I will forever give him credit as Usyk is a true ATG. Then he retires as the next 18 months we will likely see AJ and Wilder negotiating fights and Fury will be in the cold as he won’t fight Wilder again and Hearn won’t put him in with AJ if there’s a chance they can get AJ a belt and milk him again.
You think at this stage of their careers that AJ is clearly behind Wilder, absolute dross, his 3 best performances were all defeats against the same man , even that form line has taken a dip recently too, thanks to a non boxer making his debut.
His camp will be defending his training as Saudi paid Fury mega money for that fight. For him to come out and said I never trained properly and made a complete mockery of the sport would be extremely disrespectful. It would have served Fury right if the Saudi's had told him to **** off and forget about the Usyk fight after that
Lol he didn't quit against an average Ruiz and he wasn't the one who has been ducking the fight for years. There is no shame in losing to Fury and he showed a tremendous amount of heart in those fights, much more than AJ has recently. AJ just laboured past Helenius too, the man Wilder sparked in a single round.
Why do you think Wilder hasn’t been ducking Joshua or anyone else, given he’s fought one top opponent in 15 years, and that was because everyone thought Fury was shot after his PED ban/retirement. It’s always bemused me how Joshua and Hearn get all the blame. I’m not sure there’s ever been a more protected heavyweight champ than Wilder.
Fury could have taken the 12 week camp seriously but it could still not be enough to get really fit and strong. He may not have been training much for the last couple of years as he has not faced a legit challenge since Whyte in April last year. I always thought the Ngannou fight was going to be Fury halfway through his preparations for Usyk, not a fully fit Tyson but halfway there and that he would need a good couple of camps’ worth of training to do himself justice. I am worried that Fury looked quite weak, his muscles appear to have atrophied which implies a lack of strength training in recent months/years. I think he has a lot of work to do to craft his body back into the fighting machine it was, and I am not convinced his team will have him do the right work.
Brits like a plucky loser and that’s wilder to a tee. Amazing how his stock has rose based purely on losing twice
His stock hasn’t risen lol we didn’t know if he was 1,2 or 3 before he fought Fury and in fact if we knew how bad Joshua was most would have had wilder as number 1 above Fury as Deontay was favourite vs Fury in their first fight. His stock just hasn’t fallen as far as Joshua’s has that’s all.
