How would you rate Fury if he had never gone inactive for so long

If Fury had indeed stayed active since 2015 and made a bunch of definitive defences then i would be definitely rating him with the ATGs, he would have proven himself over extended period as the champ, respected the sport and the esteemed title.

I rate him now of course, Wlad and Wilder are big name scalps, but in between he had a few 'issues' and ended up fighting a cruiserweight who was not even the best cruiser in his family.

 

Fury's rise from the ashes was better than watching him defend his belts against stiff old European bums like Pulev/Povetkin.

 

Povetkin and Pulev aren't bums. Povetkin certainly not.

 

hyperbole

 

Wilder’s title defenses were mostly worthless. Fury is already remembered more favorably than Wilder ever will be.
Fury beats Joshua he’s in the hall of fame.
Had he made some title defenses he may be in the Hall already.
Just looking forward to this fight. It’s gonna be huge biggest in British history. Unfortunately probably won’t be held in Britain. But this is a mega event.

 

If I can include and expand on that.

I'd say if Fury had lived and breathed his career as a text book professional fighter should do, I think he would indeed be something "very" special. Better than he is currently.

He's achieved alot so far despite of, and not because of his original long time out - lack of dedication level, and current inactivity.

Imagine if he'd been a gym rat and was obsessed with boxing and training as per the likes of AJ, Holyfield, Bruno.

Had he truly made the game his life's work - "lived in the gym" - "Lived the life" - "Diet" - "conditioning"
I think had he done so that "theoretical" version of Fury puts him "convincingly" in the top 5 or better ATG - This gets bandied round to easily IMO. It's no easy feat.
Some will argue he already is, some won't. At the moment he's unbeaten so only time will tell.

I don't think it was tainted meat.
I think it was PEDS.
There's no excuses for that coming from me. I think it's disgraceful for any fighter, Fury included.
If he ever gets tested positive again I'll no longer be a Fury fan.

Off topic, but I also think Billy Saunders could have been a very special fighter too. For similar reasons I've mentioned.

 

Fury was banned for not being a vegetarian?

 

I am glad this thread was made, and I would like to answer.

Fury is crazy like a fox, and if he beats Joshua--a big if--then he only gained by the time off.

If Fury had fought through, he would have:

1) Beaten Whyte, Parker, Breazele, Martin, all of whom have aged badly as wins.
2) Beaten Povetkin, who was washed up
3) Beaten Joshua, who was nobody at the time
4) He would have never, ever gotten Wilder into the ring.

As it is, Joshua did all the heavy lifting, and built himself up, while Fury beat Wilder on a cherry pick gone wrong.

Judge Fury only by his success or failure. If he beats Joshua, he could not have planned it all better if he was trying.

 

You seem to have forgotten that Fury was stripped immediately following his victory over Klitschko. As such Martin would have still been champion.
Joshua fought Whyte in what was an eagerly anticipated fight in Britain less than a month after Fury beat Klitschko. Joshua was already the media darling following his Olympics success.

I guess it would depend on what Joshua's handlers thought was best for him. I suspect they would have still got Martin in the ring with the money they offered. Joshua was clearly being groomed as the cash-cow / sponsor-friendly-face of the division. Though I recognize that it was the Klitschko fight that catapulted him to superstardom. Still I suspect Joshua would have always been the money fight in a division with Fury and Wilder as the other two champions.

So

"1) Beaten Whyte, Parker, Breazele, Martin, all of whom have aged badly as wins."
- Whyte probably still goes the WBC route to try and dethrone Wilder. - btw Whyte has clearly come on leaps and bounds since his loss to Joshua.
- Parker or Ruiz Jr. were going the WBO route, so one of them would have likely fought Fury.
- Breazeale and Martin would have probably still been scalps for Joshua. Though scalp is probably the wrong word for them.

"2) Beaten Povetkin, who was washed up"
- Fury would have fought him defending the WBA

"3) Beaten Joshua, who was nobody at the time"
- As mentioned above Joshua was already a somebody the same year Fury beat Klitschko. And likely would have sat on the IBF title until Hearn felt he was ready for Fury. Defending against Pulev and possibly trying to get Wilder in the ring first.

"4) He would have never, ever gotten Wilder into the ring."
- I suspect this would have been true. But eventually Wilder would have had to fight another Champion. The PBC pretty much ran out of patsies post Breazeale KO. Ortiz 3 anyone?
Actually Ortiz would have probably been one of Fury's WBA title defences.


"As it is, Joshua did all the heavy lifting, and built himself up, while Fury beat Wilder on a cherry pick gone wrong.

Judge Fury only by his success or failure. If he beats Joshua, he could not have planned it all better if he was trying."
- Couldn't agree more!

 

Him and Martin were on very good terms, and had discussed a fight. There would have been a re-unification.

It would have been the equivalent of beating Tyrell Biggs. It might have been a big fight at the moment, but would not have aged well, and would certainly not generate the money it is generating now.

You can chop it up any way you like, and it would still not be the big money and legacy fight that it is today. It just got better by letting Joshua take the mediocre fights.

If he couldn't get Whyte in the ring, then that is even worse. Who then?

But Whyte would never have gotten a fight with Wilder. He was Wilder's mandatory for, what, two years? Wilder won't fight him, period.

I am going to skip the rest of this, because the particulars don't matter. The point is that there weren't the good, king-making fights out there. That only came by letting Joshua build himself up, and Wilder underestimate him as finished. And the point stands.

Wilder would have continued fighting medically unfit opponents forever. The heavyweight division is not short of guys with rhabdomyolysis.

Excellent.

 

you should know all about this.

 

Well Martin won the title in January, and defended against Joshua in April that same year I think. It possible Martin could have found a voluntary that he could beat, but he would have been waiting at least until the winter of that year to get a unification with either Fury or Klitschko which had no guarantee of being a bigger earner than facing Joshua in what would have appeared to be a more winnable fight for Martin.
Plus add to that Fury didn't announce retirement until that summer and relinquish his belts in the autumn. So it's easy to see Joshua was always destined to win that IBF belt.

I agree it wouldn't generate more money than it is now. It goes without saying Joshua has been like the tide lifting all boats. However, I think legacy-wise Fury would have let Joshua develop. I speculating though based on the round table discussion between Fury, Haye and Joshua.
Possibly Fury would have wanted to prove a point to the British public ala Tyson beating up Biggs. But I think letting Joshua develop into a worthy opponent would have been on the agenda. And as above, Joshua would have held the IBF belt, so that was already a level above Biggs.

I don't disagree with this

Well Whyte wasn't to know he would be made to wait 2 years. So it would have probably played out the same way. Though it's possible, Whyte takes the fight with Pulev in Bulgaria to go the IBF route to get to whoever was holding the belt (Parker no longer being a former titlist/PPV fighter)

It seems we can agree on Wilder. And I agree that it is financially beneficial for Fury as things have turned out. But I personally don't think had Hearn helped Joshua snag the IBF belt they would have thrown him in the deep end with Fury straight away. I think Joshua was always going to be a legacy fight for Fury.

 

The rise from the ashes is the mind blowing part for me too