For the first time in many years, the heavyweight division is looking interesting. We have three top heavyweights, who could produce some historic fights if matched correctly! Two questions: Which of these three heavyweights will be respected the most after they are all retired? What clues does history offer us on this question?
As much as I think AJ is the best champ of the 3 right now, they each remind me of 3 fights from the Louis era Wilder: Max Baer (wild hard swinger, no legs, explosive, kind of a clown, broad shoulders) AJ: Primo Carnera (made a post about this one) Fury: James J Braddock (outboxer, unorthodox, came back from hard times, good chin) Based on this it's to be assumed that Wilder would destroy AJ, and it very well could happen! Wilder's instincts and speed could expose the more robotic, questionably chinned AJ. We've already had the Braddock vs Baer fight, where Fury was sadly robbed. Fury stated that he's only going to have 2 more fights, and it's implied the first will be against Whyte. I believe he will try to go after AJ if AJ and Wilder have not fought by then. Either way I favor Fury over them. Usyk is a complete wild card thrown in. Perhaps he's Billy Conn (who he most resembles), or perhaps he's Louis himself (but with better footwork). This is all from my crackhead history theory rather than my analysis of their fights. As to who will be the most respected after: Not Wilder
Fury - the enigma Joshua - probably finish with best career Wilder - won't be appreciated until gone. Will be in the Marciano context where some hailed him and others talk him down.
Fury /Bowe - Lots of natural talent and physical advantages but ill discipline and mental instability outside the ring meant that somehow that they never quite fulfilled the expectations that people thought they should have achieved. Can appear to be a world beater one moment and a big disappointment in another. Joshua/Lewis - With the talent came the hard work and dedication that combined helped them reach the top. Maybe the best all round fighter of the three. Says all the right things and will end up being the most respected and probably the better overall career but possibly not the most loved by fans because of their lower key/dour personalities. Wilder/Tyson - The Wildcard. Has the ability to excite and thrill in the ring with the power to change the whole course of a fight with just one punch but with that will come accusations of being too one dimensional and vulnerability to a particular style.Outside the ring can appear brash and often be at the centre of controversy while will definitely polarise opinions on them.
I disagree as I doubt they'll actually fight, but there's no doubt some incredible fights that can be made https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...historically-weak.628697/page-2#post-19816409 I'd say Joshua, his résumé is head and shoulders above Wilder and Fury imo. If he faced both and won both, rematched Whyte, KOed Usyk and stopped Pulev I'd say he cracks the lower half of the top 10. If Fury and Wilder both try that I think they make top 15. I think it has the most potential for historical fights since the Bowe, Holyfield, Tyson, Lewis era
Yeah some great names there but there was only one fight where you say both fighters were at their peak or close to it and that was the first Holyfield v Bowe fight in 92. It would have been great if we had Holyfield v Tyson in 91 and Bowe v Lewis in 93 but it wasn’t to be. The 3 current names at the top should learn from those wasted opportunities back then. I think all 3 are currently as good as they are going to get at this stage of their careers, even Joshua who will be 30 soon and the time to fight each other should definitely be in the next year or so.
I know but that era had the most potential for ATGs to face off in they're primes. I think Lewis would have cemented himself as the number 2 HW if he beat Tyson in 91, Holyfield and Bowe in 93 and then carried on the rest of his career
I'm surprised no one has said Jack Sharkey for Tyson Fury. It's boring but VItali is probably the closest for Joshua. I think Dempsey matches up pretty well with Wilder. That's not making a comparison in terms of the overall ability of each.
I can see Lewis matching up well in 93 against Holyfield or Bowe but there was no way he was prepared to take on the pre prison Tyson in 91. I don't care what anyone says but looking back at the way he was talking about Tyson back then in interviews and such he seemed terrified of him. Someone said that there's a vid of Lewis guess-commentating on the first Tyson v Ruddock fight for British sky TV, I think and Lewis seemed in awe of Tyson whenever he talked about him during that fight and you could tell that he felt he definitely wasn't ready to take on Tyson yet at that time.
I'd that had happened they'd have been super fights. I agree Lewis was very green in 91 and probably hit his prime when he disposed of Golatas body.
Biggest knock on modern fighters is they don’t fight each other till their way past it. Wilder and Fury are already past their best. Fury is the best of the bunch imo and should have won the Wilder fight. Even though the fight was boring the end was fantastic and one of the best recoveries I can remember. AJ and Usyk are the wild cards and I’d love to see all four of them matchup at some point but they instead all take turns knocking out the same bums. Times like these I wish Dana ran boxing. If given the chance I’d say Fury is the best but damn I’m curious how Usyk would handle all 3 and yes they’ve made the HW division interesting again
Enjoyed that post ! Trouble is ,if thats the case and this eras like the Early 30 s ,then in 80 years time this forum will be ripping in to them ! Well look at what they say about Carnera ,Baer and Sharkey now !!
I have that fight on vhs, I used to watch and record the full shows, when I get a moment I will dig it out and have a look, was it with Paul Dempsey in the studio?
Not sure if itwas Paul Dempsey tbh its that Long ago .But I remember the build up to the fight .I wanted Lewis to win ,I ws back ing him big time ,the real prospect of a Brit heavyweight doing well ! But I'll be honest and admit I thought Rudders was the guy who d get a ko .Been burnt to many time's with UK fighter s losing so I expected the worst ...So Lewis s ko was a great result ,i ended up following him right through to Vit Klitschko .
