Wilder/Fury: an example of perfect dance partners

Yeah I have to respectfully disagree with this assessment. Fury dominated the first fight outside of a last minute knockdown. The knockdown created drama in what had been a pretty lack luster fight. Even the first knockdown scored against Fury didn't hurt him, it looked more like his feet tripped over themselves in the corner. Fury deserved the W by almost universal acknowledgement. Doesn't get it, comes back in the rematch with a totally different game plan and slaughters Wilder. That is impressive and simultaneously shows how flawed Wilder is. This 3rd fight was the most action packed but I really believe a big reason for that, was Fury's heart wasn't in it. It's hard to get motivated to defeat a guy a 3rd time when you already decisively won the first two contests. Not to mention the out of ring issues his family is facing. Plus the millions he lost by Joshua losing. I think Fury actually put in his worst performance last night and Wilder his best, and outside of the 4th round where an over confident by this point Fury walked into a big shot. He still managed to dominate. Wilder isn't that good. He has a monster right hand, but his jab and left hook have been poor for the majority of his career. He doesn't throw effective combos and isnt a good finisher. His defense is abysmal. He's in every fight because he is tall with range and gets a lot of momentum on his right hand. That's it. Fury should not have had to fight the rematch and definitely no need for a 3rd fight.

 

True, but I don't think the world title fight status was enough on its own. We don't really remember Sharkey/Schmeling 2 or Louis/Simon as classics on the level of the Long Count Fight, either.

I may be using an idiosyncratic definition of "dance partner."

I mean somebody who you can match up against to produce a dramatic fight. Where there's a contrast of styles and personalities, a nice heaping of tension, drama, etc. And you're both among the best in the world at the time of the match, so that the fight doesn't just tell an interesting story, but also a story that's important to the division's future.

Dempsey/Tunney 2 had all that, IMO. The personality clash was so central that Tunney didn't really have a foil after he beat Dempsey. Their styles were different. The tension was high, because each had something that could make the other uncomfortable. Tunney had to fight a pitch-perfect running fight; Dempsey had to chase down a guy who wouldn't stand and slug. The scorecards weren't remotely close, but the outcome was in doubt until the last bell, because old Dempsey still had enough skill, speed, and power left to give him a chance at landing an equalizer. It wasn't like, say, Sullivan/Corbett. The old man in the Long Count Fight really could finish it at any time if Tunney erred.

For want of a better way to explain it, they were good dance partners from a dramatic perspective, in a way that kept the fans on edge.

So, that's basically it.

 

I thought the fight was only ok…so many making this seem like some Great War. Was mostly one way through out the whole series except the few rounds Wilder scored knock downs. I preferred the chess match put on by Usyk and Joshua to the out of shape mess that I thought this fight was. Both fighters looking exhausted within a few rounds is such a joke and disgrace to the sport. It was a cool little back and forth knock downs are nice but it’s hard to take Wilder seriously for me. Could have been the best fighter this century w his raw power speed and height. But it was wasted on a lazy dope to good to learn the sport he’s competing in.
Hoping to get Usyk v Fury but not holding my breath. Boxing has let us down to many times to expect the two best fighters to go at it.

 

A good trilogy. But not quite on the level of the Ali-Frazier or Bowe-Holyfield.

 

One of the most pointless HW rivalries ever. After the second one no questions were left unanswered. The third fight was an eye roll everyone saw as just delaying the actual fight people want. I am sorry but just no this does not compare to Ali vs Frazier.

To me this would be like If Quarry had a third fight with Ali... Who cares?

 

I understand what you mean. The intensity really came from it being a slippery dynamite situation, Gene needed to be patient and perfect and it brought out the best in him there was real tension in the air that at any one given moment Jack would catch him.

Of course what Dempsey had left was simply not enough.

 

If you give a starving man rotten meat he'll eat it because that's all he has. It'll probably seem like a great meal at the time but.......

 

Here is how it should have gone:

Fury wins the first fight by UD.

Wilder activates the rematch clause, and gets butchered, the day after Storm Denis hits the UK.

With no mandatory, Fury signs to fight Joshua, creating an all time pay day, that is mutually beneficial for both men.

Nobody cares that Joshua dropped a belt to get the Fury fight.

 

I should add:

Don't get me wrong. It was a mostly pointless series after Fight 1.

Fun, perhaps, but pointless. Except if Wilder had won, which might have locked up the division for a while longer. It only mattered in a negative sense: that the division would be in bad shape after a Wilder victory should be win his Sunday punch.

 

Good post.

There's another way to interpret the results you mentioned, though:

Fight 1: Fury suffering from layoff; not at 100%.

Fight 2: Fury gets the element of surprise with unexpected aggression, and is also better trained.

Fight 3: Fury a bit older now, but more importantly, Wilder is bigger and heavier. Wilder's single-minded training and pumping iron actually paid off, so he does better this time.


...Unfortunately, that would mean that people have to admit that all that weight training and Joshua-esque "bodybuilding" was actually a good idea. So they won't do it.

 

I've got some late night hot takes for everyone!

I like what you wrote, but I do disagree a little.

Fury was a boxer with a reach advantage (albeit a small one) facing a puncher who was giving away 15-20% of his body mass (the same proportional weight difference as 115lbs Chocolatito facing 130lbs Tank or 135lbs Teofimo Lopez in a world with same day weigh ins). He was a couple years younger to boot. Fury was supposed to win these fights by the usual logic, even though his erratic behavior and Wilder's aura obscured all this before the first fight.

Ali and Frazier were perfect dance partners because Frazier's style, gas tank, and mental toughness was a good counter to what the generally superior Ali had going for him.

Fury and Wilder were good dance partners, and today that sets them apart from the crowd. They actually fought, close enough to their best years, no one quit, no one ducked, no one showed up unable to perform.

As far as who the perfect partners are, in retrospect I think Wilder's was AJ. I believe they would have traded wins in a trilogy. Maybe Fury's is Usyk, or maybe it was Wlad and we were denied the series that would have defined what is effectively a lost era due to Fury's personal/chemical situation. Or maybe he's right and no man born of his mother can really bring everything he has to give.

To me, an undefeated fighter is one who never went to the limit of their potential, there is something almost tragic about it.

Yeah not the finest display of pugilism, but I think the best HW fights of the last 5 years would have been seen as pretty crappy on every level even by the standards of 20 years ago.

This isn't one I'm planning to rewatch like I do some 70s classics but at least it delivered on one viewing's worth of entertainment. This was the best two weeks of HW boxing in many years and perhaps it's a sign that there is still some life in the sport.