Was Fury a cherry pick gone wrong for Deontay Wilder?

Both Fury and Wilder have wafer thin resumes. But yeah, it does. Actually says a lot about the entire HW division.

 

I never understood how people could call this a "cherry pick gone wrong" for a myriad of reasons .... (Fury was the lineal champ, Fury was younger, Fury was bigger, Fury was undefeated, and on and on)

Most importantly the fact that Wilder floored Fury twice and successfully defended his WBC Heavyweight Title for the eighth time against Fury in 2018.

Wilder walked out of the ring the belt and he was bigger than ever afterward in the U.S.

As was Fury.

When you were making between $2 million-$3 million a fight before that and you made nearly 10 times that a fight afterward as the defending champion ... there's nothing "gone wrong" about that.

Wilder made close to $3 million for the first Ortiz fight and $20 million for the rematch. He made nearly $30 million for the Tyson Fury rematch.

It's the successful title defense that made Wilder and Fury superstars. That's when networks started throwing money at both. That's when Eddie Hearn stopped saying, "Take $5 million, it's more than you ever made."

If you want to call it a cherry pick, call it a "cherry pick GONE RIGHT."

Both guys cashed in.

 

Fury 12 months prior to fighting Wilder was 350 pounds, couldn't run 100m and his body was riddled with drugs. He spent that entire year losing weight rapidly, he was about 60% when he fought and sonned Wilder. He knew if he got into fighting shape Wilder wouldn't fight him.

If you want to ignore this you're on crack.

& he was 60% again in the 3rd bout...hell probably worse because his elbows were blown out.

When Wilder fought a 100% Fury he wet himself before the bout even begun! He had a panic attack in the dressing room. Straight facts.

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Well, Wilder didn't fight the Tyson Fury who weighed 350 pounds and couldn't run, did he?

Fury fought three times in 2018. He was one of the most active top heavyweights in the sport that year. Fury didn't weigh 350 pounds for any of those fights. He weighed 100 pounds less than that for two of them.

He lost TWO WHOLE pounds in the four months between the Pianeta fight and the Wilder fight.

Fury weighed more for Christian Hammer and Tom Schwarz than he did for Deontay Wilder in their first fight.

It was also the lightest Fury was for any of their three fights, by far.

Fight 1 was also the fight when Fury did his best boxing.

In fights two and three, Fury had to change his style to beat Wilder. He dumped his trainer. He got heavier, and he fought a more mauling, rough, dirty fight, which, to his credit, worked for him.

But Tyson Fury looked GREAT against Wilder in their first fight. Anyone with eyes can see that. People thought he boxed marvelously ... far better than he looked against Wlad.

But keeping his distance and boxing also left him susceptible to the getting caught with Wilder's right hands on the outside.

Truth is, Fury had to change his style in order to beat Wilder. And it probably shortened Fury's career.

But that series of fights MADE Fury as much as they MADE Wilder. ESPN wasn't offering Fury $100 million deals immediately after he fought Wlad, that's for damn sure.

 

It was a cherry pick because he didn't fight Joshua?

 

Here's Fury last fight prior to Wilder 1 in case anyone forgot about it.

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A cherry pick? Absolutely.

 

It was an obvious cherrypick.
Most people predicted a Wilder KO, even many of the people that didn't rate Wlder highly. Fury wasn't near his form from before the ban/retirement, he was out of shape out of the nandrolone benefit window, and needed to go the distance against far past it Pianeta of all people.
It almost worked out too. If the ref had stopped it in the 12th, not many people would have complained.

The rematch was there for a lot of money and seen as a less risky alternative to the Joshua fight. In the US, with favorable officials and a good chance Wilder could land again. The 3rd fight was purely because the 2nd was a huge miscalculation with other big paydays down the drain and a reputation shattered.

 

Well it's a cherry pick for obvious reasons.

And it went wrong, again for obvious reasons.

 

Not even a question IMO.

Fury looked ripe for the picking on his return after the Seferi and Pianeta bouts.

Wilder's team saw a "right time right place" opportunity and went for it - and tbf were a baw-hair away from pulling it off.

 

Yes clearly cherry pick gone. Wilder admitted so in a interview. Stated that the turned down more money to fight AJ to fight Fury who in his own words stated Fury didn't deserve a title shot and he was only fighting him as he felt sorry for him.

Fury coming off a long layoff of food and coke binge to fight 2 low level journeymen and Fury look out of shape , rusty and didn't impress in those 2 fights. Wilder management thought Fury would be a easy touch (and should been considering how poor he was in the firstbfight against Wilder) - clear cherry pick gone wrong.

 

To be fair it was a smart cherrypick from Wilders team.
If he was ever going to add Fury to his resume and build up an AJ fight it was at that time.

 

There was nothing "gone wrong" about it.

The eighth successful title defense for Wilder.

And Wilder's purses went up nearly tenfold afterward ... against opponents he'd faced before for far less.

Both guys' careers soared in the wake of fight one.

"Listen Deontay, you're going to fight Fury, you're going to drop Fury twice, you're going to leave the ring with the belt and you will still be the champion, you're going to make about 10 times more for each title fight from now on than you have been making ... and your popularity in the U.S. is going to soar. And Fury's popularity and purses are going to soar, too."

Gone wrong? It was the greatest signing in both of their lives. It elevated them both to stardom in the sports world.

Their names are forever linked.

 

You underestimate the competitive nature of Wilder.

All of his career he'd been told he was the best. Every ko got him one step closer to believing he would be able to dethrone Joshua from the HW throne.

Fighting Fury was supposed to give him enough leverage to command 50% against AJ and force the fight through. But both guys messed up.

AJ got knocked out by Ruiz as a late replacement. Wilder got schooled by Fury and all of a sudden no one cares about AJ vs Wilder any more.

Now the story is all about Fury and how he was robbed on the cards vs Wilder. That aura of invincibility disappeared. Then Wilder lost every second of his fight with Ortiz bar the ko punch. Then he was twice knocked out by Fury.

Financially, assuming his faculties are all intact, of course it was a good move. But from a sporting point of view, in terms of Wilder and his ascent to the top of the division, it went horribly wrong.

 

Couple of things.

First, I don't underestimate the competitive nature of Wilder in the least. Are you kidding me? For a year or two there, I felt like I was his LONE supporter on this site. (In fact, I believe I was.)

Second, nobody told Wilder his whole career he was the best. He didn't enter the pro ranks with a gold medal and a TV deal (like Joshua). He fought in gyms in Bumble****, USA, for years on his way up. He believed in himself. His mediocre team didn't. Half the time, they (the team) phoned it in. His promoter didn't know how to promote him. Even when he got a deal with Golden Boy, they didn't know what to do with a black heavyweight. A Mexican lightweight? Sure. A black heavyweight? No. Even Finkel wasn't quite sure how good he was and held him back from fights he should've taken.

The people on this board who said he was badly mismanaged, particularly early in his career, I completely agree with them. Management, trainers, all of them. He should've shipped them out a long time ago. But, beggers can't be choosers. And he wasn't in any position to pick and choose who he worked with when he turned pro. Because he literally started at the bottom as a pro.

Third, Joshua NEVER HAD the heavyweight "throne." Joshua has yet to even fight for the lineal title.



Now, the truth is, and everyone knows it's true, Wilder-Fury 1 was a HUGE BOOST in both fighters' careers.

Both of their purses went thru the roof afterward. It set up two more fights where they both ended up making $45 to $50 million each on the second and third fights alone, when they weren't making anything like that before. After fight one, DAZN and ESPN were offering them huge deals. Even Hearn went from talking about Wembley fights for both and giving Fury and Wilder a couple million to jetting back and forth to Saudi to try to get a ZILLION dollars to make Fury-Joshua.

People around here have been bashing Wilder for years. They like to call the first Fury fight a Cherry Pick Gone Wrong ... when the truth is it worked out famously for both fighters.

There's no way around that. It did.

Wilder kept his belt and became enormously rich. Fury got enormously rich and won the belt in the agreed upon rematch and regained the lineal title that Ring Magazine had taken from him.

And they did it together.

And their third meeting will be talked about forever. All time great heavyweight title war for the true World Heavyweight Title.

The best thing that ever happened to them in their careers was signing to fight each other.

Gone was the scandal with Fury and the Klitschko fight, and the canceled rematch, the failed drug test and the layoff. Fury was a new man. Everyone wanted to talk to him and his wife about their story. Deals were flying around. Wilder became a mainstream sports star in the U.S. and got to defend his title three more times for more money than he'd ever seen in his life.

Both achieved what they set out to do in their careers.




Meanwhile Eddie Hearn and Joshua were left fighting Andy Ruiz, and Andy Ruiz again, and Kubrat Pulev, and Usyk ... and losing two out of the four.

Granted, Joshua has made a lot of money. Tons. He always has. He's been expertly managed. His problem isn't his team, the team's problem is Joshua. Joshua is the one not holding up his end ... losing to guys he shouldn't lose to.

Joshua better beat Usyk in the return, that's all I can say.

Who will Joshua be linked with in history?

 

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