We lost on an unification fight, but got two better fights instead....what's not to like?

I see a lot of people posting comments like this but when the fight comes I'm sure you'll all be watching.

I've never had a problem with Fury v Wilder 3.
It is true that Wilder always has a punch to cause tension and drama, and the idea of him getting beat up again appeals to me anyway.

 

This is because he is from U.S and Usyk from Ukraine.

 

I'd rather see AJ-Ruiz 3 than AJ-Usyk.

People talking about "Fury Joshua Superfight" but I still feel Joshua's #2 standing is somewhat tainted by him going 1-1 with fat boy just a couple of fights ago.
If Joshua took on Ruiz again and smashed him out of the ring, it would re-establish him and make him a better counterpart for Fury in a "Superfight".

 

Coming over a dominant win over very limited fighter with a very thin resume to say the least and a notorious cherry picker (which he admitted he did with Fury after looking poor in the first 2 come back fights) that refused to fight AJ on multiple occasions. Struggled against a guy who at the time ranked outside the top 40 and was fortunate not to be stopped due to the severity of cut.

AJ is coming off beating two fighters with more impressive resumes in Povetkin and Pulev (much more in the case of Povetkin) than Wilder. Also avenging his lose to an underdog fighter and winning convincingly on points to become a 2 time unified champion.

 

Fury is 2 0 on wilder and has lost a total of 2 rounds.

****ing robberies man, if the first fight had been scored correctly we wouldn't have this bull****.

 

Likely?

Superior technical boxer, yes, but has handicaps in height, power and reach...
He's also not been completely convincing at heavy yet and up against the most complete resume in the division.

Usyk's better at CW than AJ will ever be at HW... But this is at HW, not CW.

I'd say Usyk has a chance, but IMHO it's a brave man that considers him "likely" to win.

 

Possibly - depends how you weigh up their respective strengths and weaknesses.

If he'd said "the two most skilled" it'd be very difficult to argue that that's not Fury and Usyk.

Add in other attributes (strength, size, history, potential from this point, etc) and I'd argue it's arguably Usyk that drops off that pedestal.

All debatable I'm sure

 

The whole argument here hinges on whether you class Wilder as a quality fighter, doesn't it?

Wilder has certainly been a successful fighter in that he got a title and made a number of defences...
But whether he's a quality fighter or a wild, one-trick pony is debatable, as is the threadbare nature of his own resume.

Wilder is definitely dangerous, and Fury beat him with two different styles - that in itself is impressive, (and will make it difficult for Wilder to predict and prepare for III) but if he hadn't held that belt I don't think anyone would be rating Wilder too highly.

 

Fury made a good decision to go on the attack against Wilder and put any decision out of the reach of the judges. The boxer going forward can sometimes flatter to deceive in what they are actually achieving.

I always thought Wilder was wildly overrated. He can bang, oh yeah, and the knockout reals are great entertainment, but knocking out static fighters who have little or no defence isn't really establishing yourself as a credible world-title holder. That is why he came utterly unstuck against Fury, who can actually box. Still, you know Wilder can make all the boxing skills in the world academic if he lands clean and proud. and that's why HW is such a great division when the fights can be made.

I'd argue that AJ has proved himself to be a worthy title holder. Even though Wlad was ageing and coming off a loss, he turned up for the fight with AJ in great condition and much more alive and punching than he did against Fury. You could say Fury made him look pedestrian, but I'd say it was Fury being mobile and canny and Wlad having a bad day at the office. It happens. And he was at the wrong end of his career to want to do too much about it. But taking down AJ, an up and coming prospect and far more static than Fury is, well, that would have been a great way to cement an already great legacy. But AJ was a worthy winner, coming back from a surprise knockdown and gassing out.

Likewise, Povetkin, Pulev, Parker, Ruis and even Whyte were good wins for AJ. Ruis is highly deceptive for a fat guy. He's fast, has great boxing skills, just like you'd expect from a well-trained Mexican. And he let himself down in the follow-up by being overweight, but he was still fighting his fight, but AJ had learned from his loss, and played the percentages and played to his own skills, rather than being impulsive, as he was in the loss.

AJ has been taking on top 10 fighters for a while now, and you could argue that the division is a bit thin on talent, but top 10 is top 10. That hasn't really been the case for Wilder and Fury, who check each other as the major fights on their resume, with very little else except the Wlad win for Fury, which was a good one, but that still only puts two decent boxers on his resume.

I like Fury a lot. He plays to his strengths and makes defence and mobility as important to the outcome as landing punches or even landing knockout punches, which other boxers get single-mindedly focused on, to the detriment of their overall boxing skills. It's great to see Fury expose that. For a big guy, he is incredibly mobile. And he can mix it too, getting on the front-foot when he needs to.

The fight with AJ is going to be a real mix of styles. For that reason, I don't think it's an easy decision to decide who is the better boxer. They have different strengths - Fury more durable and more canny as a boxer, but AJ, he can be very accurate and precise with his boxing. He can land some great punches on the counter attack and his uppercut is a thing of beauty - reminds me of the other Tyson. We need to see AJ and Fury in the same ring simply because it's the fight that hasn't happened yet and they are both on top of the HW tree at the moment. The other fights are peripheral to that, even if they would be interesting fights.

Usyk reminds me a bit of David Haye, in that he did a great job at Cruiserweight, but struggled against the top fighters at heavyweight, in spite of his skills as a boxer and the Haymaker. I'll never forget the Valuev wobble when Haye finally landed that Haymaker. But Usyk will struggle against the bigger men that can box, because they'll control the distance and nullify his boxing skills. Not to mention that getting hit by the bigger guys is going to be taking more out of him than he's experienced at Cruiserweight. It's not easy to hit back when you're getting hit with heavy hands. Dulls the senses!

I'm not a big fan of black and white opinions on who is best, simply because it sounds too much like football fans arguing, where the arguments are irrelevant because peeps are just going to support their team no matter what. No objectivity.

You can usually tell an educated fan because they can list a boxers strengths and weaknesses, regardless of whether you are a fan, or you have a soft spot for that fighter.

 

The money men are not going to want the geese that will lay the golden eggs (mega income generators) namely AJ and Fury risking losing etc to any fighter other than themselves.

If the money men, who are canny shrewd and experienced business folk, thought the 'Superfight' was tainted as you describe then they would not be investing the time, money and their reputations on making the fight.

 

What a great post to kick off your time on here! Welcome Mark.

On the two better fights question, I think this would be true if we could only flip the opponents. I don't really need to see fury beat Wilder again, it may be entertaining, but I'd enjoy watching AJ take on Deontay a lot more.

Similarly Fury would have a very different set of challenges to overcome against Usyk, probably the best boxer he will have taken on in his career.

If those were the two fights we lost the undisputed bout for I think fans would be more excit d for the next few months in HW division. I know I would at any rate...

 

Wilder was coming off the Ortiz victory and let’s be honest before Pulev fought AJ people were calling him a bum.

But let’s just overlook the fact AJ got bounced and QUIT against a fat plodder with overrated power in Ruiz jr.

 

Id pick Wilder to beat Pulev and Ruiz jr and I’m no fan of him.

 

Pulev I'd agree.

Ruiz Jr... It depends how he turns up - if he comes in fit, let's his fast hands go and maintains the pressure then I'd probably favour him to beat Wilder. Big "if" though perhaps.

The bigger question is Wilder though - how will he come back?
He's too old to have learned skills overnight so for me it comes down to two things: 1) Has he got the drive to come back and take on better fighters than he used to pick? 2) Has he still got the confidence that he can weather a storm and pick up the KO later on if needs be? 3) Having always stayed quite active, how quickly will he get back up to speed?

If the answer to 1) is "no" then his legacy won't change (ie: that he cherry picked average fighters and is a one trick pony who got found out against his only serious opponent) and if the answer to 2) is "no" then I think he'll go hunting for it and leave himself too open and easy to pick off - and he'll lose again.

 

I’m good either way

But I voted unification as I am not a fan of Trilogies.

especially when they are as one sided as Fury vs Wilder.
(Wilder won 2 rounds at best in both fights)

if anything this should help AJ better prepare for the unification bout who ever he is fighting as he has seen many more looks at different fighting styles then both Fury & Wilder as they have both gone quite stale repeatedly fighting each other.