Where would you rank Tyson Fury in British history?

[Stuarty]

Remember when Julius Francis tried Cage Rage. Pretty ugly stuff!

Remember Toney trying MMA and getting leathered in about 30 seconds

[polecateddy]

I once had a letter published in Boxing News suggesting Johnny Nelson would outbox Rocky Marciano. Let’s just say the purists didn’t like that one very much! lol But I think you could pick out a number of fighters from later decades to give Fury some trouble. Whose to say the other (Mike) Tyson wouldn’t have been too quick for him. They say after all punching down to an opponent can be a real problem.

[Grilling Machine]

Remember Toney trying MMA and getting leathered in about 30 seconds

Nah, I rewatched it recently and it was 20 seconds of Toney looking like he was thinking about what to order at the KFC, and then another 2.5 minutes of Couture on top of him.

They say after all punching down to an opponent can be a real problem.

I think Wilder has the opposite problem, and it's a big part of the reason for his losses to Fury. He also carries his chin way too high against him.

[Autobarn]

I still would have LOVED to have seen Fury vs Haye when they were scheduled to fight.

Price, Haye, and the Wlad rematch. Looking ahead, I'd like to see him fight AJ and the Dubois-Joyce winner.

It's easy to laugh at Price now, but timing was everything with that one. Ditto Haye, whose prime ended with the injuries he picked up in training.

Ha, I was thinking about this today at work. What if, Fury v Haye. I think Haye would have jolted him a few times, before Fury pecked him to pieces. Might have been really exciting.

[Grilling Machine]

At the time I felt Fury probably had it in the bag if he could survive the first few rounds, and I made him the slight favourite on account of it being easier for him to stall Haye than for Haye to land big at such an upward, distant angle. Fury was noticeably more muscular than previously.

Sort of like Froch-Barney had the latter been much bigger. I wanted Haye to win because, Wlad aside, I preferred watching him.

[polecateddy]

At the very least Haye would have gassed in the second half and fallen apart. He was already starting his long injury filled decline.

[Grilling Machine]

Yeah, there were photos of him with compression sleeves on his arms, so he had niggles when he sparred with Wilder, Wach and the others. And his stamina was always a weakness, with the possible exception of 2005 after Thompson refocused him.

[polecateddy]

I remember watching Haye against Fragomeni. I think Haye was approaching the red when the Italian finally folded. Haye barely scraped by Valuev, who was effectively walking wounded himself by then, and tellingly never fought again.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Funny to think now that most people were heavily favouring Haye to beat Fury.

[Cas]

How is this even being discussed yet. Fury is way behind Lennox at this point. Let's starting talking if he beats AJ, Ruiz & Whyte. Lennox has an incredible resume with huge names on there, there is no comparison yet.

[Autobarn]

Funny to think now that most people were heavily favouring Haye to beat Fury.

I'm forgetting when this was. but I'm sure it was after light hitting cruiserweight Steve Cunningham heavily dropped Fury and jolted him once more a few rounds later.

the thinking will have been, if Cunningham can drop him, Haye will stop him.

[Autobarn]

How is this even being discussed yet. Fury is way behind Lennox at this point. Let's starting talking if he beats AJ, Ruiz & Whyte. Lennox has an incredible resume with huge names on there, there is no comparison yet.

I feel you can't discuss someone's place in history until their career is all but finished.

what if Fury melts down and threatens to turn into Buster Douglas - again?

or what if he dumps the sanctioning body belt, fights cherry picked unranked guys and does a Foreman vs Grimsley-Savarese-Briggs?

what if he ploughs through Wilder 2-Joshua-Whyte?

what if he finishes his career with famous trilogies vs both Wilder & Joshua, his only serious rivals?

too many ifs

[gilgamesh]

How is this even being discussed yet. Fury is way behind Lennox at this point. Let's starting talking if he beats AJ, Ruiz & Whyte. Lennox has an incredible resume with huge names on there, there is no comparison yet.

I feel you can't discuss someone's place in history until their career is all but finished.

what if Fury melts down and threatens to turn into Buster Douglas - again?

or what if he dumps the sanctioning body belt, fights cherry picked unranked guys and does a Foreman vs Grimsley-Savarese-Briggs?

what if he ploughs through Wilder 2-Joshua-Whyte?

what if he finishes his career with famous trilogies vs both Wilder & Joshua, his only serious rivals?

too many ifs

That's the aggravating thing about Boxing sometimes. Even if Fury were to fight Wilder one more time, and AJ twice. That would take about a year and a half right? Presumably? Maybe 2 years. In that time surely another worthwhile contender could emerge out of the mix to become the new guy people wanted to see fight Fury.

In the meantime things might get interesting yet with AJ/Fury still going.

To be honest I think AJ almost needs some more impressive KO wins to re-solidify his status as a Champion, and make a potential fight with him and Fury sell better to the masses. At the moment, it's really only intriguing because he has belts but nobody really is giving him much of a shot anymore.

Fights where one guy is the heavy favorite usually ain't Blockbuster sellers.

USUALLY I say.

[stujones]

Good call Coco and a couple of good calls re opponents.

Fury is a fighting man first and foremost and I think the only guys I think could give Fury potentially some problems as fellow fighting man, who just know how to fight. I think Joshua is just an athlete and I question is flexibility, Usyk fits the criteria but going on Saturday I think he is too small.

In a styles makes fight scenario the two fighters who I think could give Fury problems is Ruiz and Ortiz.

[Grilling Machine]

I was interested to see Fury fight PEDMill, who was even heavier with a lower centre of gravity and good stamina. Likewise, I think Joyce'd be a really hard fight for Fury, even though that's one of the slowest heavies against one of the nimblest.

Why? Because I think Wlad and Wilder froze against someone taller with more reach. Wlad woke up a bit in the 12th, famously. But they were both used to punching down (Breazeale figuratively), and that loss of advantage seemed to come as a shock to them. If Wilder treated Fury as a six-rounder and just let his hands go I'd still give him a great chance, but that's twice now he's failed to, so he's unlikely to become aggressive at this point. He needs to view this loss as a big reduction in pressure to help with that.

Time and again the ones who do better against Fury are those who don't freeze. It'd be mentally harder for Fury to fight someone like Joyce now as the foregone winner. So yeah, I don't feel an in-shape Ruiz and Ortiz are easy fights for him.

[dr_devious]

In a styles makes fight scenario the two fighters who I think could give Fury problems is Ruiz and Ortiz.

Agree that Ortiz and Ruiz are the two most natural box / fighters who are natural heavyweights.

However, Ruiz wouldn't get anywhere near Fury, he's giving away nearly 30cm in reach and nearly 20cm in height and Fury is a master in exploiting his height and reach.

Ortiz is ancient and again is giving away too much height and reach.

I don't think Fury will ever lose now unless something untowards happens e.g. mental / physical meltdown, walking onto a huge Joshua or Wilder haymaker, or a serious cut. Bit of a sh1tter he was robbed in the first Wilder fight but he will still probably retire undefeated.

[samwbr]

Good call Coco and a couple of good calls re opponents.

Fury is a fighting man first and foremost and I think the only guys I think could give Fury potentially some problems as fellow fighting man, who just know how to fight. I think Joshua is just an athlete and I question is flexibility, Usyk fits the criteria but going on Saturday I think he is too small.

In a styles makes fight scenario the two fighters who I think could give Fury problems is Ruiz and Ortiz.

Ortiz is pushing 50 yrs old.

Joshua just an athlete

Joshua is the only fight for both of them, everyone knows it.

[margaret thatcher]

Ya, don't agree with that. Ruiz is a plodding midget who wouldn't get close, and similarly Ortiz is super slow on his feet and waits around. He would just plod after Fury while eating jabs.

If Fury takes them seriously of course. Perhaps Fury is more likely to lose to a guy like Otter who doesn't seem like much , cus he underestimates?

[brilo33]

History ranks boxers. He is best for me regarding how he beats aj but .on his day he is up there with best in the world.he has gone over seas to win the world titles in the champions home turf Germany was home for Klitschko.
But Lewis didn't get rated till years after he retired. So next generations will rate Tyson he is a great

[Grilling Machine]

Ya, don't agree with that. Ruiz is a plodding midget who wouldn't get close, and similarly Ortiz is super slow on his feet and waits around. He would just plod after Fury while eating jabs.

Be surprised if anyone backs either to beat Fury, but maybe their skilful plodding's underrated when Fury best dominates those he intimidates?

I'd like to see them trying to herd Fury to the ropes, and whether they could tire him to land to his body later on. Ruiz has a top chin to add some interest. With his speed, weight and lack of height, he might even be deceptively tricky for Fury.

And there's a fair chance Fury's feeling himself enough to continue this reversion to his old style.

[brilo33]

Fury won't ever top Lewis because virtually nobody would pick Fury in a head to head fight between the two

He's proved to be way better than 99% of people thought. In fairness he was uppercutting himself in the ring at one stage of his career and flat out ducked Price at one stage too. We all thought Price would have beaten him but how wrong we were. Fury always had too much heart for Price. He'd get up from any haymaker just like he did vs Wilder.

id pick fury. lewis didnt like it up him also he wont be the bigger man in the fight againsy fury, id pick tyson every time