How is Fury great when he has never defended his title?
- Thread starter EBK String
- Start date
He isnt great but if he beats Joshua without any fukkery and keeps his zero, he would be the best heavy in this generation.
I dont think he will ever fight Joshua. I don't even think he will fight Wilder he will end up vacating again.
fury has more to prove
Kinguno
The Immortal
He’s the lineal champion so he doesn’t need to carry a belt he’s the man who beat the man and beat the other man so he’s undisputed as the Heavyweight King that’s the reason the way he outboxed Wlad (who later lost to AJ) then demolished Wilder.
The first fight with Wilder looks funny in the light because it was a trap fight Wilder tried to use excellent timing to become lineal champ along with already having the WBC belt to force the fight with AJ in the USA.
The first fight with Wilder looks funny in the light because it was a trap fight Wilder tried to use excellent timing to become lineal champ along with already having the WBC belt to force the fight with AJ in the USA.
We will see but HW is his division for now
It’s embarrassing he hasn’t defended his title after so long, it’s shameful. If this Wilder 3rd fight happens will be the first time, terrible. He is a good fighter for sure but clearly that’s a stain on him, something he can overcome potentially if he goes on to defend against the top contenders but I have a feeling he won’t do that long term.
Also it’s not just about the defences made but who you’re fighting. Fury fought people like Schwarz, Pianeta and Seferi, if they had been defending a title it wouldn’t have made it impressive. Same with Wilder, poor competition and ducked fighters.
Thus far AJ has the best resume and has actually fought numerous higher ranked contenders and continues to and was willing to fight the others he hasn’t fought yet but they ducked him. So credit where it’s due, win, lose or draw at least he’s willing to regularly fight top competition. Which is what I like, not people who try to play too much politics.
Also it’s not just about the defences made but who you’re fighting. Fury fought people like Schwarz, Pianeta and Seferi, if they had been defending a title it wouldn’t have made it impressive. Same with Wilder, poor competition and ducked fighters.
Thus far AJ has the best resume and has actually fought numerous higher ranked contenders and continues to and was willing to fight the others he hasn’t fought yet but they ducked him. So credit where it’s due, win, lose or draw at least he’s willing to regularly fight top competition. Which is what I like, not people who try to play too much politics.
Hopeofmypeople
Veteran
Is his claim to lineal legit though? There hasn’t been an undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis. And he never lost his lineal title and retired with it in tow so the lineal line was broken there. In order for any of the current heavyweights to claim lineal they need to become undisputed.
reservoirdogs
Superstar
Boxing isn't a sport where you can measure someone's greatness by a single stat
Like Fury hasn't ever defended his title but yet he has 2 of the 3 best wins in recent years of the HW division and both of them were clear. He sould have won the first Wilder fight too if we are being honest. While someone like Wilder might have defended is belt 10 times but only two of those wins came against top 10 ranked HWs, and it was the same guy twice.
With that said inconsistency is a big problem of Fury, OP is right in that, it's like he couldn't handle the pressure mentally, not sure though. It's either shyt opposition or very good seems like no inbetween. Only exceptions I can thinkof are Chisora and Wallin but he beat Chisora when he was still an up and coming fighter and Wallin was widely viewed as a step over, he cemented himslef as a legit guy with his Fury performance.
Like Fury hasn't ever defended his title but yet he has 2 of the 3 best wins in recent years of the HW division and both of them were clear. He sould have won the first Wilder fight too if we are being honest. While someone like Wilder might have defended is belt 10 times but only two of those wins came against top 10 ranked HWs, and it was the same guy twice.
With that said inconsistency is a big problem of Fury, OP is right in that, it's like he couldn't handle the pressure mentally, not sure though. It's either shyt opposition or very good seems like no inbetween. Only exceptions I can thinkof are Chisora and Wallin but he beat Chisora when he was still an up and coming fighter and Wallin was widely viewed as a step over, he cemented himslef as a legit guy with his Fury performance.
Kinguno
The Immortal
In 2021 to become undisputed you need the belts of the WBA,WBO,WBC, and IBF. They haven’t all been around at the same time and some of rises and falls in prestige. When you watch Rocky that red, white, blue belt came from The Ring magazine that for many years was seen as another belt of prestige because they had rankings that were respected. The lineal champion has no physical belt but is the man who beat the man.
When there are breaks in the line usually off of a retirement the top contenders compete and then a new one is crowned what helps to place top contenders often is common opponents (think about how Pac-man used that to try to get a fight with Floyd) often because of ego or need for money the man who beat the man that didn’t get beat by another man will come out of retirement to fight the current champ.
Often after mega and super fights the winner will retire(Floyd retired right after beating DLH) so that way as everyone comes down from the high of a mega/super fight the people not involve can gauge themselves against each other (It’s really really disrespectful for another fighter to jump into another fighter’s post fight in ring interview because the fighter hopping in is taking advantage of the high once again Floyd had this happen after he defeated Marquez historically Pacman’s greatest rival in his first fight off retirement when Shane Mosley came into the ring which HBO set up on the sneak tip against Floyd)
One of the greatest times this happened of course is when Joe Louis fought Rocky Marciano. As we know Rocky Marciano retired undefeated. Another historical break was when Ali had his license suspended he was still the lineal champ it’s lost to history but even during that time he was blocked from even having fights internationally when before he would fight in Germany, England, and Canada. Ali won back the lineal title and kept it until the back end of the 70’s until he retired then got called out of retirement basically to fight the then World Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes. Larry Holmes did what he did to Ali then lost to Spinks twice who then lost to Tyson(Tyson became undisputed because Spinks had other belts) then beat up Holmes because their was demand for that fight.
Now to the Lennox he was trying to get a fight with Tyson for years and had made up for KO lost to MCCall and the draw with Holyfield and it was going great until he got KOed by Rahman. He won by KO in the immediate rematch. The Tyson fight happens but at that point they are both 37-38 Lennox wins by KO. After he agreed to fight two other people but one got injured and Wlad was going to fight on the undercard and then possibly fight Lennox in 2004 but it got bumped up so basically Lennox went about a year without fighting after the Tyson fight and fought Wlad and won because of a cut but Wlad was winning on all cards. There was demand for a rematch and Lennox agreed to fight Wlad again in either November or December but by that August two months after the fight he pulled out saying they could fight in 2004. December 2003 Wlad knocks out one of the guys Lennox was going to fight before Wlad in the second round then on February 7th Lennox retired and vacated the belts making them blast off in the sky together and then separate across the globe like Dragonballs. Lennox never came back to box again obviously but he kept talking about coming back in like 06,08,09,and 11. He’s been open to doing a exhibition like Mike did with Roy Jones Jr.
When Fury beat Wlad after he did a bunch of drugs and got depressed then retired as he was losing weight and stopping with the drugs Wilder set the fight up with him in such a compromised state to have the leverage of being lineal champion and WBC champion to force the fight with AJ for all the belts to at least be in the US or make the split closer to 50/50. For decades though champion fighters will sign a contract for two fights with the second fight being in case a fluke happens a recent example is when Anthony Joshua was going to fight Big Baby Miller for his first heavyweight fight here in the USA but then Miller tested for steroids then Andy Ruiz Jr was chosen as a replacement (Andy Ruiz Jr. who only lost to Joshua Parker on the cards in Parker’s home country when Parker was undefeated and the WBO champion) who then KOed AJ to take his three belts (Wilder at this time had the WBC belt) they fought again six months later in the Middle East AJ won.
The current conversation is who will have all the belts and be undisputed we were about to have that fight until Wilder sued Fury to force a third fight when Wilder let the six month waiting period for a third fight pass I guess COVID helped but then as we were supposed to get this third Wilder/Fury fight Fury caught COVID and now this fight has to be rescheduled further (October 9th 2021) and AJ next month (September 25th 2021) is fighting the former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk who has had only two fights at heavyweight. So in a way we are where we were from almost five years but all three have remained active and entertaining.
Fighters have to have ego and courage to do what they do in addition they have dreams that they saw other fighters have that they want even if it wasn’t real like the the fighters from the Rocky movies and there’s something special about coming here to America and fighting in Madison Square Garden or somewhere in Vegas and everything that came with it back in the days even though AJ has fought in front of double what MSG can hold. Canelo fought in front of triple when he fought in Cowboy Stadium in front of 73,100 people.
I wrote a lot because I love the shyt and after seeing it a lot it makes me laugh how history repeats itself even at different weights. But also Lineal titles is like maybe the closest thing to how it was back in the days if I want to be King I have to beat the King and one day I will be beat and the current King can always argue he’s the greatest King why because he’s the man who beat the man and became King nothing more could demand more respect.
O³ (O cubed)
No more PAWGs, PLEASE??!!!??
Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko not Vlad.
Hopeofmypeople
Veteran
Great post but it doesn’t negate my initial statement. The lineal line was broken because Lewis retired undefeated in order to establish a new linealship an undefeated champion needs to be crowned. Fury is not the lineal champion despite his claims, the true lineal champion will be the first person to become undisputed since Lennox Lewis.
Kinguno
The Immortal
It took a couple years of beating contenders to become lineal for Wlad and clinching other belts. Over time because of the work he was putting in he was also climbing up the pound for pound rankings.
After Tyson Fury retired and got into drugs he relinquished the titles. The WBA set up a fight for the vacant belt between the Former lineal Champion Wlad and AJ.
being Undisputed and Lineal is rare because of the different organizations stripping belts off of their feelings like for example most champions aren’t ranked by other organizations but their common opponents are (this is how certain contenders are established and can have PPVs without belts because those fights are seen as contendership claim clashes. Wlad had three of the four belts because his brother had the other one.(they promised to never fight each other) Wlad was called the unified Heavyweight Champion vs the Undisputed Heavyweight champion. AJ is the Unified Heavyweight champion(IBF,WBA,WBO) and Tyson Fury is the Lineal Heavyweight Champion and WBC Heavyweight champion.
Fury full regained the Lineal title when he beat Wilder in the second fight. Their first fight being a draw elevated Wilder above AJ because not so long from that time only Wilder and Fury were undefeated.
If Fury beats Wilder then beats AJ he would be the Undefeated Undisputed Lineal Heavyweight champion of the world.
Hopeofmypeople
Veteran
Wlad was never a legit lineal champion, like I said the line was broken with Lewis. Fury doesn’t have a legit claim to linealship.