If Tyson Fury defeats Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, he’ll become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years since Lennox Lewis.
The real question is will Fury (34-0-0, 24 KOs) be an all-time great with that victory, giving him a seat among these best from the past:
– Muhammad Ali
– Joe Louis
– Jack Dempsey
– Rocky Marciano
– Mike Tyson
– Jack Johnson
– Gene Tunny
– Lennox Lewis
– George Foreman
– Larry Holmes
– Evander Holyfield
Fury’s Notable Wins: A Thin Body of Work
I don’t see Fury as being an all-time great because that would only be Fury’s third win over a world-level opponent if he’s victorious against Usyk. The only other notable wins on Fury’s 16-year pro resume are these two: Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder. That ain’t enough to become one of the all-time great.
I think it’s painfully obvious that Fury’s body of work would still be too thin, even with a win over Usyk, to put him as an all-time great in the heavyweight division.
If Fury were included with them, it would taint the list because his resume is lacking. Fury is basically just starting out in terms of fighting high-caliber opposition.
Apart from the 40-year-old Wladimir that Fury beat nine years ago, there’s only Deontay and Usyk, if he defeats him. The rest of Fury’s resume is filled with lesser guys, and I’m being kind here. They’re tomato cans, all of them, and just three notable fighters on Fury’s 16-year resume.
Wladimir was at the very end of his career at 40, and Wilder had poor boxing skills, had never beaten an A-level heavyweight in his career, and was easy pickings.
The Road to Greatness: A Daunting Challenge
For Fury to be one of the all-time greats, he would need to stick around long enough to defeat these killers: Anthony Joshua, Filip Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois, Martin Bakole, Frank Sanchez, Jared Anderson, Bakhodir Jalolov and Zhilei Zhang. I don’t think Fury will even make it past Joshua, let alone any of these other killers.
Fury isn’t going to stick around the sport to go through that murderer’s row of heavyweights to become an all-time great. Why? He’s already old at 35, and filthy rich with a fortune estimated conservatively at $65 million, but it’s likely far more than that.
My point is, Fury isn’t going to stay around the sport to labor through the above killers. Yeah, if he beats Usyk, he’ll stay around long enough for a rematch and then two lucrative fights against Anthony Joshua before retiring.
I predict that Fury will lose both fights against Joshua by early knockout within four rounds, but walk away with tons of cash, rich beyond belief with so much money. It won’t even matter that he’s retiring off of two consecutive blowout knockout defeats.
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