Tyson Furys Career: In Depth Breakdown

Wasnt long ago, we had crazy people spouting generational great before he finally fought a live one in Usyk. Ive never rated the Wilder wins highly and ive always said this man became a star simply by getting up off the canvas in Round 12 which went viral. Apart from 1 night in Dusseldorf a decade ago, what did this man actually do that had people so convinced he was a all time great and could hang with the best of them past & present.

For me Tyson Fury has been very lucky to have earned what he has in boxing without having to really run the gauntlet of fighting genuine opponents throughout his career. The guy turned pro in 2008, the amount of names missing from his resume is atrocious when compared to some fighters who turned pro nearly a decade later than him. Hes a blend of 3 different eras yet has managed to avoid about 95% of the Top 50 fighters from 2008-2025.

Anyway heres a long ass breakdown of my recollection of his career and why i give it a C.​

Record - 34-2-1

Titles
Irish Heavyweight Title - vs Martin Rogan
English Heavyweight Title - vs John Mcdermott
British Heavyweight Title - vs Derek Chisora
Commonwealth Heavyweight Title - vs Derek Chisora
European Heavyweight Title - vs Derek Chisora
IBF Heavyweight Title - vs Wladimir Klitschko
WBO Heavyweight Title - vs Wladimir Klitschko
WBA Heavyweight Title - vs Wladimir Klitschko
IBO Heavyweight Title - vs Wladimir Klitschko
WBC Heavyweight Title - vs Deontay Wilder

World Champions Defeated
Wladimir Klitschko
Steve Cunningham
Deontay Wilder x2

World Title Defences
Deontay Wilder
Dillian Whyte
Derek Chisora

Top 5 Career Wins
Wladimir Klitschko
Deontay Wilder
Deontay Wilder 2
Dillian Whyte
Derek Chisora

Career Path Milestones
Defeated John Mcdermott for the English Title over 10 rounds in a controversial decision many thought he should have lost. Rematched Mcdermott later with a TKO victory.

Defeated Derek Chisora for the British and Commonwealth belts over 12 rounds, both undefeated Prospects at the time.

Set for a big British showdown with unbeaten British rival and World Boxing prospect of the year David Price who was next in line for his title. Vacated them in pursuit of World Titles as he was ranked Number 7 in the world.

Fury would then fight 2 months later for the Irish title against Martin Rogan and then 2 more times that year against Vinny Maddalone & Kevin Johnson.

Entering 2013, a year on from turning down the challenge of David Price in pursuit of World Honours, he gets ordered to fight the unbeaten Kubrat Pulev for his EBU Title in a IBF eliminator for Wladimir Klitschko which was set to go to purse bids.

Furys Promoter Mick Hennesey is a no show and Team Fury decline cancelling the proposed bout with Pulev.

2013 progresses with 2 failed bouts with David Haye.

2014 Tyson Fury returns to the ring against Joey Abell and then a rematch with Derek Chisora for the EBU, British & Commonwealth belts. He stops both of them.

Fury would enter 2015 with a keep busy fight against Christian Hammer before taking on Wladimir Klitschko later in the year with a massive upset victory claiming the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO World Titles.

Fury would then be booked in to rematch Klitschko in October 2016. This fight would fall through as Fury was deemed "Medically unfit". Klitschko would then fight Anthony Joshua 6 months later for his final bout and attempt to get his belts back.

It is then announced Tyson Fury receives a 2 year backdated ban from the sport of boxing for failing a drugs test prior to his win over Wladimir Klitschko.

After completing his ban from the sport that everyone mistakenly thought he was just mentally unwell as the reason he was inactive, December 2017 he is once again cleared to fight.

He would had two tune up fights with Seferi and Pianeta before taking on Americas unbeaten WBC Champion Deontay Wilder. Wilder was best known for his incredibly padded record and incredible KO %, shouting Anthony Joshuas name, and openly avoiding Dillian Whyte for 2 whole years.

Fury would put on a great display of boxing exposing Wilders one dimensional style despite being out of shape and inactive but would create a viral 12th round knockdown which completely captivated the internet. The fight would end in a controversial draw.

Tyson Fury became a overnight sensation to the casual audience. He used this moment to talk about mental health and created this brand new persona, the complete opposite to the foul mouthed homophobic character we had all been used to before his drugs ban.

With his new found popularity worldwide, the rematch with Wilder was being built up. He was given two unbeaten sausages to feast on during his American tour in Tom Schwartz and Otto Wallin. He would dispatch Schwartz inside 2 rounds and be dragged into a 12 round brawl with Otto Wallin where he was very fortunate to not be stopped due to a horrendous cut which would later require 47 stiches.

February 2020, Fury would demolish Deontay Wilder with ease inside 7 rounds to claim the WBC World Heavyweight Titles. Wilder would go on to make some crazy cheating allegations.

As covid delays sport, Fury would not fight for near 18 months. During that time, negotiations for a undisputed bout with Anthony Joshua had begun as Frank Warren and Tyson Fury assured the boxing world Deontay Wilder "didnt have a leg to stand on" with his arbitration case.

Turns out he did. Makes sense why Fury and Warren were surprisingly so easy to work with this time around, its asif they knew the bout with AJ was never happening so lets just milk the hype and publicity. Anyway, Fury vs Wilder 3 was ordered.

Fury vs Wilder 3 happened at the end of 2021 and despite being a trilogy no one asked for, delivered the best fight out of all 3. Fury would get off the canvas twice to stop Deontay Wilder late in the fight after a real classic.

In the meantime, Dillian Whyte, who had been stiffened COLD by old man Povetkin, avenged that loss and was once again in line for Furys WBC Title. 4 years on from making his way to the top of the WBC and ready for his title shot, Fury finally allowed Whyte to fight for the WBC title in April 2022. He would KO Whyte in 6 rounds. Tyson Fury then retired in the middle of the ring post fight.

The year progressed, Anthony Joshua came up short against Oleksandr Usyk in his rematch. Usyk called for a undisputed fight with the retired Fury.

Fury would come out not long after the fight and offer AJ a shot at his WBC title in December 2022. Anthony Joshua accepted. With Joshua and Matchroom accepting, Fury then announced a crazy deadline in which Joshua had to accept. Warren, Furys promoter, told Tyson to wait as the contracts are close to being done. Fury declined as "The deadline wasnt met".

Tyson Fury would then offer a mandatory challenge to Derek Chisora for a trilogy fight in December 2022, surprisingly no deadline for that bout. he would then go on to dogwalk Chisora and stop him. He would then call for a fight with Joe Joyce & Oleksandr Usyk ringside.

Fury vs Usyk negotiations then got underway at the start of 2023, Fury said he would only fight Usyk with a 70/30 split. Calling his bluff, Usyk accepted, Team Fury pulled out the deal. Despite being messed around, Usyk would then fight Daniel Dubois later in the year. As for Fury, he would go on to announce a fight with 0-0-0 Boxing debutant & UFC Heavyweight Champion, Francis Ngannou.

On the first real unveiling of Riyadh Season, Tyson Fury would face Francis Ngannou in late 2023 in what was expected to be a demolition Job. It wasnt. Tyson Fury was made to looking embarrassing as boxings representative on this night as he was dropped in the 3rd round by Ngannou and was pushed to the limit in a close Split decision win. A decision that had people swaying both sides on who actually won the 10 round contest.

Fury vs Usyk was already booked in for December, with Fury receiving a cut in his bout with Ngannou, the fight was delayed. February 2024, the new date. As we arrived in February, the fight was delayed again, Team Fury announce Tyson has another cut. Usyk, now sidelined for nearly a year of his career waiting for Fury agrees to a new May date.

May 2024. We finally get to see Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk. Despite a great start to the fight, Usyk takes over and creates a viral Round 9 moment as he punches The Gypsy King from pillar to post around the ring, many believing the referees interference saved Fury from being put out cold. Usyk was announced the rightful winner by Split decision, a decision Fury didnt agree with.

December 2024. The Rematch. Now facing his first career loss, how would Fury react and respond to it. A question all greats have had to answer. He would enter the ring much heavier than 8 months earlier and adopt a very different style. Whether it was fear of his chin or simply for his tactical gameplan, it didnt pay off.

Usyk would dominate the rematch with a clear Unanimous decision. Fury would complain post fight and say hes been robbed twice. The boxing world would disagree. Fury would not enter the boxing ring again.


​

 

I like every point you made.

To summarise why im disappointed in Fury and will not accept he has a claim as one of the greats is very simple.

He reached the pinnacle in 2015.

- Sefer Seferi (RTD)
- Francesco Pianeta (PTS)
- Deontay Wilder (D)
- Tom Schwartz (TKO)
- Otto Wallin (UD)
- Deontay Wilder (TKO)
- Deontay Wilder (KO)
- Dillian Whyte (KO)
- Derek Chisora (TKO)
- Francis Ngannou (SD)
- Oleksandr Usyk (L)
- Oleksandr Usyk (L)

That was his run of opposition since becoming World Champion 10 years ago. Talk about moves like a middleweight, a freak of nature and all this malarky. Thats an absolutely embarrassing run of bouts for a supposed generational fighter. In comparison, other fighters since reaching World Level of this sport.

Joseph Parker since World Level (9 Years)
(Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz, Derek Chisora x2, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang, Martin Bakole, Fabio Wardley, Joe Joyce, Dillian Whyte, Simon Kean, Jack Massey, Junior Fa, Faiga Opelu, Alexander Flores, Hughie Fury, Alex Leapai, Razvan Cojanu, Alexander Dimitrenko, Shawndell Winters,)

Anthony Joshua since World Level (10 Years)
(Dillian Whyte, Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam, Alexander Povetkin, Kubrat Pulev, Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois, Andy Ruiz x2, Oleksandr Usyk x2 Jermaine Franklin, Otto Wallin, Charles Martin, Dominic Breazeale, Eric Molina, Robert Helenius, )

Daniel Dubois since World Level (5 Years)
(Joe Joyce, Bogdan Dinu, Cusumano, Trevor Bryan, Kevin Lerena, Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, Oleksandr Usyk x2, Anthony Joshua


Even if we go back to someone like Povetkin, a guy who came up through the same era as Tyson did turning pro just a year later. The names of his opponents throughout his career in virtually the same number of fights are just so much better.

Alexander Povetkin not even including the bums stacking Furys resume like your Hammers & your Joey Abells
(Chris Bryd, Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev, Marco Huck, Wladimir Klitschko, Mike Perez, Carlos Takam, Anthony Joshua, Michael Hunter, Dillian Whyte x2)


Just because he dethroned Klitschko, was given the chance nobody else was given in getting to Wilder first and put a beating on him like many would have and have done since, and was made to look a million dollars against cabbages like Schwartz and Chisora im meant to think this guy is a all time great. Well done you looked great for 7 rounds vs Usyk in the first fight. So did Tony Bellew.

Crazy stuff man.

 

This post will seem like i hate him, i actually dont, i hate the fact hes misled the public throughout the majority of his career through his way of words and completely denied us of some really good match ups.

Fury vs Price all them years ago?? yes please!
Fury vs Pulev/Povetkin 5-10 years ago? yes please!
Fury vs AJ at any point, yes please!
Fury vs Dubois at any point yes please!
Fury vs Joyce 2 years ago? yes please!
Battle of the Fattys, Fury vs Ruiz? yes please!
Fury vs Parker after he decimated your cousin?? yes please!
Fury vs the boogeyman Bakole 2 years ago? yes please!
Fury vs the Chinaman Zhang??? yes please!
Fury vs the man who cost him the Haye fight Filip Hrgovic?? yes please!
Fury vs Jarrell Miller press conference??? yes please!
Tyson & John vs Hughie & Peter Fury because hes full of back acne???? yes please!

Look at what he gave us instead. Thats why im forever disappointed in this man.

 

The problem was, people were too accepting in just saying he would beat a fighter without ever having to actually face them. Usyk a perfect example, for 2 years it was, Furys too big, bullies Usyk no problem, until he actually got in the ring with him and that wasnt the case. Theres no doubt i think Fury would have the ability to beat most of who he didnt fight, but id bet alot of money one or two would have beaten him. I hear alot about Furys defence was incredible and his boxing ability is amazing, is it? Why? because he feinted his way past Klitschko? Could Klitschko have had a off night? Or was it because he danced around Deontay Wilder? Derek Chisora? Joey Abell? Tom Schwartz?

I always remember his post fight interview against Martin Rogan when he said i can do it all, i boxed a full fight there in southpaw, no one knew i could do that. Yeah mate, its Martin bloody Rogan, a taxi driver. I see his highlight reels sometimes and hes hands on the ropes dipping ducking diving dodging every single punch, thats Tom Schwartz throwing them shots at him for christ sake not a Povetkin or a Zhang!

I stand by his best performance in a boxing ring was them first 7 rounds in the loss against Usyk 1, that showed me Fury is of elite level. The resume and legacy however is not and thats a damn shame simply through his own fault.

 

If youve got nothing to say on the original post and are just here to defend the man without making points then have at it. Maybe he will come back and entertain you with Chisora 4 and you can watch him ducking and dancing about looking a million dollars and say LOOK AT HIM, WEVE NEVER SEEN A HEAVYWEIGHT THIS BIG MOVE LIKE HIM.

Least we know what chump voted All Time Great Resume.