Fury/Hide.

[The Great John L]

He'll definitely be knocked cold at some point. He just looks more like Tommy Morrison than Duane Bobick in that category. His size, heart, stamina and willingness to fight make him the most watchable Heavyweight in the world.

Agree about the Bobick/Morrison analogy, although Bobick got stopped by fighters light years better than anyone that Fury has faced yet, so the jury is still out. He can be fun to watch, but his punching technique is so crude I find it almost painful to watch. He makes Jack O'Halloran look skilled.

I don't recall Bobick ever recovering from being hurt, so I'm comfortable saying he isn't in that company. Luckily for Fury he doesn't have to worry about a Ken Norton, there are plenty of Kallie Knoetzee's though. He wasn't light years better than anyone.

I see your point about recovering, but Knoetzee hits a LOT harder than anyone Fury has faced, and especially the two guys who have dropped Fury. Knoetzee hit a lot harder than Norton, Norton was juts a much better figher. And while Tate wasn't a big hitter, he was a very good offensive fighter who could throw volume punches with decen leverage.

Fury may turn out to be good, but until he fights someone who can punch, I don't think there's any way to judge how good his recuperative powers are.

[The Great John L]

Fury's main weakness to me isn't a weak chin, it's how sloppy his approach is. When he's really going for it and attacking hard, he's wide open for almost any kind of punch. He gets off-balance when he throws hard right hands, if he misses he winds up standing southpaw or just squared up altogether. He definitely still needs a lot of work on his technique no doubt. Cunningham caught him with the huge right hand in the 2nd and caught him flush on a few more occasions in the 3rd and 4th rounds, wobbling him pretty clearly.

Fury's got a lot of heart, but his technique is still very amateurish. He has SO much he can improve.

You can't teach heart though and you also can't teach BIG. He has both of those things. Everything else can come if he works on it.

I tend agree, but hard work doesn't always overcome a lack of physical ability, and Fury has a long way to go. And we'll see how good his heart is when he faces someone with HW offensive skills. So far his resume is very weak.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Agree about the Bobick/Morrison analogy, although Bobick got stopped by fighters light years better than anyone that Fury has faced yet, so the jury is still out. He can be fun to watch, but his punching technique is so crude I find it almost painful to watch. He makes Jack O'Halloran look skilled.

I don't recall Bobick ever recovering from being hurt, so I'm comfortable saying he isn't in that company. Luckily for Fury he doesn't have to worry about a Ken Norton, there are plenty of Kallie Knoetzee's though. He wasn't light years better than anyone.

I see your point about recovering, but Knoetzee hits a LOT harder than anyone Fury has faced, and especially the two guys who have dropped Fury. Knoetzee hit a lot harder than Norton, Norton was juts a much better figher. And while Tate wasn't a big hitter, he was a very good offensive fighter who could throw volume punches with decen leverage.

Fury may turn out to be good, but until he fights someone who can punch, I don't think there's any way to judge how good his recuperative powers are.

I don't think Knoetzee hit harder than Norton. He was pretty awful.

I'm not predicting Fury will turn out to be good, he's just an exciting fighter in a terrible division. As far as that goes, he's already good. I'd certainly pick him to run over Knoetzee.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Fury's main weakness to me isn't a weak chin, it's how sloppy his approach is. When he's really going for it and attacking hard, he's wide open for almost any kind of punch. He gets off-balance when he throws hard right hands, if he misses he winds up standing southpaw or just squared up altogether. He definitely still needs a lot of work on his technique no doubt. Cunningham caught him with the huge right hand in the 2nd and caught him flush on a few more occasions in the 3rd and 4th rounds, wobbling him pretty clearly.

Fury's got a lot of heart, but his technique is still very amateurish. He has SO much he can improve.

You can't teach heart though and you also can't teach BIG. He has both of those things. Everything else can come if he works on it.

I tend agree, but hard work doesn't always overcome a lack of physical ability, and Fury has a long way to go. And we'll see how good his heart is when he faces someone with HW offensive skills. So far his resume is very weak.

He's certainly improved a lot since he punched himself in the face. The division is shit, his resume is stronger than most. Sad but true. Not that I disagree with any of your criticisms. It's just how bad the division is right now.

[HomicideHenry]

I never was much a fan of the 'Dancing Destroyer', he had a fairly soft chin. He was blasted out in two rounds by Vitali Klitschko, if my memory serves me correct. Hide should have been a Cruiserweight, rather than a heavyweight. He may do well for a while against Fury, but I see Fury eventually wearing him down and then knocking him out.

[The Great John L]

He's certainly improved a lot since he punched himself in the face. The division is poo, his resume is stronger than most. Sad but true. Not that I disagree with any of your criticisms. It's just how bad the division is right now.

He has improved and I was impressed with how he adapted in the fight after Cunningham started to tire. I think the chin is really an issue, because both of the guys that dropped him are not punchers at all. In fact if we compare him to Bobick, I would say that Bobick wouldn't have been dropped by either guy as he did fight and beat a number of pretty good HWs prior to getting stomped by Norton on national TV.

Unfortunately, he probably does have somewhat of a future with todays HWs, but I think even with todays lame division he will have a very difficult time with anybody who can punch. Either way it will be fun to watch, as he does come to fight and he does seem well conditioned, and that makes him a lot more marketable than all but a few other HWs.

[HomicideHenry]

You know Floyd Patterson was probably dropped more than any other heavyweight in history, and nobody denies he was a good fighter. Fury, at least, has demonstrated he can be hit with a monstrous punch and come off the canvas to later win a fight by knockout. I'd rather have a heavyweight who can climb off the floor to win, than a guy who has no recooperation powers. Jesus bless.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

He's certainly improved a lot since he punched himself in the face. The division is poo, his resume is stronger than most. Sad but true. Not that I disagree with any of your criticisms. It's just how bad the division is right now.

He has improved and I was impressed with how he adapted in the fight after Cunningham started to tire. I think the chin is really an issue, because both of the guys that dropped him are not punchers at all. In fact if we compare him to Bobick, I would say that Bobick wouldn't have been dropped by either guy as he did fight and beat a number of pretty good HWs prior to getting stomped by Norton on national TV.

Unfortunately, he probably does have somewhat of a future with todays HWs, but I think even with todays lame division he will have a very difficult time with anybody who can punch. Either way it will be fun to watch, as he does come to fight and he does seem well conditioned, and that makes him a lot more marketable than all but a few other HWs.

While the two guys that dropped him aren't punchers, and Chisora had him in worse trouble than either of them, all three times he was firing back heavy stuff before the end of the round.

[Ezzard]

Fury by stoppage in five or six rounds.

You’d win that bet.

[Ezzard]

He'll definitely be knocked cold at some point. He just looks more like Tommy Morrison than Duane Bobick in that category. His size, heart, stamina and willingness to fight make him the most watchable Heavyweight in the world.

Agree about the Bobick/Morrison analogy, although Bobick got stopped by fighters light years better than anyone that Fury has faced yet, so the jury is still out. He can be fun to watch, but his punching technique is so crude I find it almost painful to watch. He makes Jack O'Halloran look skilled.

Agree. He doesn’t seem to throw his punches properly at all. His jab is good. Jab and move should be his game but Fury is a chancer…which makes him very, very entertaining in the ring.

[SamWise72]

The problem with Fury is everything but his heart. He can't box a lick against anyone who isn't stationary and not throwing back (his jab looked good against Kingpin, like it would against any heavy bag). He will also get outworked by anyone in decent shape who throws punches (a fit Chisora would have done it, Cunningham was doing it, he just wasn't big enough to cope with the weight of the man). Finally, his chin appears vulnerable, so although he can punch, his combination of virtually zero defence and a poor chin means you'd pick most good operators to knock him out sooner than get knocked out.

It's true that against relatively light punchers, he's got up and fought back, I don't see that happening when he's fighting someone with a real punch at HW. I foresee the wheels coming off against Pulev, who I rate, though he's unspectacular. And that's going to be the worst of it; Pulev isn't going to dance rings around him, or blow him away, he's just going to throw more leather, more accurately, and wear him down for a probable late stoppage (Fury will continue trying hard to win, and as he gets more tired, it's almost certain to get him knocked out). That'll be more of an "exposure" than being chinned would be; it'll be clear that he's just nowhere near good enough. Hughie, on the other hand....

As far as the Hide fight would go, it's a bit of a crap shoot. Hide hit harder than Cunningham, and was way faster too, but just as careless as Fury, and just as chinny. It would be fun while it lasted.