Look, this isn't a boxing blog and I find it highly unlikely that it will ever be anything close. I don't really even consider myself much of a boxing fan. I would say I'm on the upper end of a casual and that is really best case scenario. With that said, I do like to at least keep my eye on the boxing world and tune in to the big fights when I can. Tyson Fury most certainly qualifies as one of those guys and now that he is retiring from serious boxing competition, I wanted to take a moment to recognize his greatness like I've started doing for some others. We'll get into what his future may hold tomorrow, but this is going to be strictly limited to Tyson Fury as a world champion boxer.
I'm not informed or qualified enough to speak on the entire history of the sport and rank everyone across generations, but I think I am safe in saying that Tyson Fury is most certainly on the list of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. I'll go as far as to say, from my perspective, he was the best heavyweight boxer of my sports lifetime (about the last 20 years). Whether in boxing or MMA, we really haven't seem someone at his size be able to move the way he does. For us MMA fans, we are used to heavyweight still having a limit, but in boxing, there is none. This enables Fury to be able to come in as big and strong as he wants and he almost always weighed in over the MMA limit of 266 lbs that we are all familiar with. What truly separated Fury wasn't the power in his hands, but his defensive capabilities. In a division that isn't typically known for their ability to evade and avoid punches, Fury mastered the defensive side of the sport and it made him one of the most difficult fighters to solve in recent decades. He had know clear weakness, while having an advantage in almost all areas. He was going to be bigger, stronger, and longer than virtually all of his opponents. He was also likely to be the quicker fighter in the ring in terms of both the speed of his punches and the speed with which he could move his feet. The one thing that I never really associated with Fury is the massive power that heavyweight combat is usually known for. He has plenty of knockouts, but I just never got the feeling that Fury had other worldly power like Deontay Wilder or Mike Tyson. Fury was a guy who got his knockouts based on the accumulation of damage over several rounds. Once he had his opponents damaged and tired out, he was able to sit down on his punches a little more and get the finish that way. In any case, he is one of the most talented boxers we've seen over the last 20 years or so and it was a pleasure to watch him. His combination of size, speed, and technical skills were tremendous to watch whenever we got the opportunity.
As for his resume, Fury has really done all your could ask for. Overall records for boxers are a bit different than they are for MMA fighters, but he still has very few holes to poke at. He won the WBO intercontinental heavyweight championship in his 19th career fight. A couple of years later, he would win the WBO international heavyweight title. After one defense, he got his big breakthrough moment by defeating Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles by unanimous decision. Unfortunately, after that fight, Fury would fall on hard times in his personal life. He struggled with his mental health and battled issues with drugs and alcohol. All of this would result in him putting on a lot of extra weight and it appeared as if he would never fight again. He would vacate those championships as he stayed away from the sport. He's done interviews where has talked about these things, including one with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, which I would highly recommend. He was eventually able to dig himself out of the downward spiral and regain his will to get in shape and compete. He lost over 100 lbs and returned to the ring after over 3 years away from boxing. He had two fight before challenging Deontay Wilder for the WBC championship. This was the fight that took Fury from one of the best boxers in the world to a true celebrity and more of a household name in the general public and not just within combat sports circles. A back and forth battle saw this one end in a split draw even though the general public seemed to side with Fury. One judge scored the fight for Fury, one for Wilder, and the other had a 113-113 draw leading to the overall fight being a draw. Wilder is one of, if not the biggest power puncher since Mike Tyson, and when he dropped Fury late in the fight, everyone assumed it was over. Fury laid on the canvas and didn't look like he was going to be able to get back to his feet. Late in the count, he somehow managed to stand back up and he arguably won the rest of the round. If you've never seen the video of Fury getting back to his feet after the knockdown, you have to watch it, as it almost looks super human. The clip went viral at the time and really contributed to Fury's rise in fame. After the draw, he would fight two more bouts and pick up two wins before the rematch with Wilder was booked. Like I said, I'm more of a boxing casual, but I think Fury vs Wilder II was probably the third most hyped boxing match of my conscious lifetime, behind only Mayweather vs Pacquiao and Mayweather vs McGregor. I'm open to being wrong on that though, but I can't really think of a fight that had more general buzz around it than that one. Tyson Fury would absolutely dismantle Deontay Wilder in the second fight in a fight that was completely one sided. He got the knockout in the 7th round, but the fight looked like it was over before it started. Wilder came up with a lot of excuses and some of them were rather bizarre, but no one was having it as most people thought Fury won the first fight. After the COVID-19 pandemic threw some wrenches into the plan, we eventually got the trilogy fight and it lived up to the hype in every way possible. It was such a great ending to a great trilogy between two amazing fighters. I think that fight was as excited as I've been to watch a boxing match on a personal level ever. The second fight had more buzz in general, but the trilogy was the one I was most excited for. I was watching most of the event by myself and had 2 XL pizzas ready as my parents were driving home from a trip they took for their anniversary. Despite how unprepared he looked for their second bout, Wilder came to fight and brought the best version of himself he ever had. Fury was just too much to deal with and ended up knocking Wilder out in the 11th round. If he's telling us the truth, his final true boxing match took place this Saturday against Dillian Whyte and Fury looked as good as he ever has. He was in complete control from start to finish and got the knockout in the 6th round. That left Fury's career record at 32-0 with the 1 draw.
My point in doing this was to tip my hat to Tyson Fury on a great career. Whether his days of competing altogether don't seem to be finished just yet, he's said multiple times that this is the end of his time competing in true, real competitive boxing. You can choose not to believe him and combat sports is known for having fake out retirements, but I have no reason to believe he's lying. Tyson Fury isn't the kind of guy who has ever really mislead us or talked up something only to go back on it later. I'm sure there's a paycheck that could lead him to change his mind, but I believe Tyson Fury when he said that he's done with this life. He's still only 33, but he's had a hard and long career. Even though he's still a young man, he made his professional debut back in 2008. He's been through a lot both physically and mentally and if this is enough for him, then I don't blame him. It isn't much, but this is my way of thanking all of these fighters for the memories they have given me over the years. They sacrifice hours and days and years of their lives to be able to compete and miss out on holidays and family moments, just for our entertainment. Some of my fondest memories with my own family come while watching fights and those are moments that I hold very close to me. With that said, thanks to Tyson Fury for all of the fun fights and best of luck to him in whatever the future holds.
What do you guys think? Comment your favorite Tyson Fury fight or moment below. Thanks for reading and have a good one. We'll talk more about what his future may hold tomorrow.
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