With Tyson Fury’s promoter Frank Warren reporting Tuesday that the two-time heavyweight champion will exercise his rematch clause for a bout likely to occur Oct.12 in Saudi Arabia, Fury has the opportunity to make some edits on a legacy that now has the scar of his first defeat.
“He’s had a historic heavyweight career. He’s one of the best heavyweights I’ve ever seen and one of the best who’s ever lived,” ProBox TV’s Chris Algieri said on Monday’s episode of “Deep Waters.”
Before the news arrived of Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) invoking the rematch against undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) following Usyk’s split-decision triumph in Saudi Arabia Saturday, Algieri and fellow analyst Paulie Malignaggi said it makes perfect sense to pursue a second crack.
Before Usyk launched his rally from a 68-65 deficit on two scorecards before the eighth round, “I was thinking I wouldn’t be surprised if [Fury] stops Usyk,” Algieri said. “And if Usyk doesn’t hurt [and knock down] Fury, Fury wins that fight.
“I know we’re looking at it in hindsight, but if [Usyk] doesn’t drop [Fury] in the ninth, he loses the fight. Fury was in dominant control in rounds four, five, six and seven. Dominant boxing, beautiful boxing IQ.”
Even after the knockdown, Fury recovered like he did from that harrowing knockdown in his first Deontay Wilder bout to produce a “snapping job,” Algieri noted. “The guy’s still got it.”
Told that Usyk has already been established as a more comfortable -200 betting favorite in the rematch, Algieri said, “I don’t know what happens in the rematch.”
“Deep Waters” analyst Paulie Malignaggi said while Fury’s first loss opens him to reflective criticism that he’s taken too much time off and fought “down to the competition” in some cases, he remains “one of the best fighters of his generation and one of the best heavyweights of his era … the Wilder trilogy and the [Wladimir] Klitschko win was one for the books.
“Every performance is so important. You’re really under the microscope each and every time.”
Fury, 35, is still capable of staging a massive all-U.K. showdown with former three-belt champion Anthony Joshua if Joshua is able to recapture the IBF belt that will be given to the June 1 Filip Hrgovic-Daniel Dubois winner.
Whether it’s Joshua or Hrgovic or Dubois down the road, “those are great fights I want to see,” Malignaggi said.
The legacy damage is more like a stain that can be scrubbed away.
“It’s a loss on his record. All the great heavyweights have losses,” Algieri said. “It doesn’t change his legacy. Granted, it’s not the same as it was before the fight, but if he comes back and beats [Usyk] in the rematch, then we’ve got the whole trilogy – that’s a legacy builder.
“I don’t think this [loss] hurts him that bad.”
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