BoxRec

And he holds the wbc not the wbo so Usyk is irrelevant

Fury’s done well, Klitschko and Wilder are huge names.

An effective if dull clinic over Wlad, a fight of the year candidate vs Wilder 1 and a decisive rematch beatdown. Somewhere in there he surely won comeback of the year and he’s a legitimate heavyweight king and future hall of famer.

The only thing, his non huge fights aren’t so impressive, neither the performances nor the opposition. Could he have had the discipline to just defend his titles vs whomever the sanctioning bodies threw at him? We’ll never know. If he deserves huge props for overcoming what he did, the three years off hurt his legacy. He’s not going to have 16 world title defense likes Lewis had, although his career is a phenomenal story.

And, we should wait and see... what happens with one more big name, in Joshua. Will that be an easy win, a humbling defeat or a gruelling rivalry?

It is part of why Usyk is a player in the division and not a million miles away. If Fury is hanging around for several more fights, he's gonna have to fight several opponents who are clearly overmatched, I don't see why Usyk would be such a bad option, and I mean we have seen Fury regularly fight far worse

gilgamesh wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 15:32 He bumped himself up to #2 of British Heavyweight Champions.

If he only winds up having 3 more fights I don't imagine he passes up Lennox, if he has 5 or 6 or so, and faces the best possible opponents between now and then, then yes he may well wind up #1.

His legacy was enhanced in a gigantic way with his win last night. As it was not only a definitive, dominant win, but also one of his more exciting fights, and probably one of the biggest events he's been in.

He's as big a star as he's ever been right now.

Completely agree. There’s a big opportunity now for Fury, if he picks and wins the right fights to become the biggest attraction in the sport.

Yeah but I don't think he has any intention of sticking around. This is redemption for himself and he's almost done.

It's going to be difficult for Fury to be ranked better than Lewis just because the division is weaker, there aren't Holyfields and Tysons to beat

Tyson was a shell when Lenny beat him, the name looks good on the resume though

His biggest challenge will be remaining motivated now he's won back a version of the title.

Unless it's Joshua which gives him the chance to win back the others and become undisputed. I think that would motivate him.

A fight with Usyk? When he's only intending to fight twice more max? Nah

AJ is obviously the biggest one. After that? Usyk would be right up there with anyone

Usyk has a few more Matchroom fighters to face yet. Chisora, Parker, Whyte etc

He's nowhere near ready

ewenhay wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:01 His biggest challenge will be remaining motivated now he's won back a version of the title.

Unless it's Joshua which gives him the chance to win back the others and become undisputed. I think that would motivate him.

A fight with Usyk? When he's only intending to fight twice more max? Nah

What should he do wait for 3 years between fights for a more interesting 2nd or 3rd option to come along? Right now Usyk would be one of his better available options.

ewenhay wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:04 Usyk has a few more Matchroom fighters to face yet. Chisora, Parker, Whyte etc

He's nowhere near ready

Apparently his body is nowhere near ready.

Not like these other guys are beating Fury though is it?

Not sure Fury will ever take Lewis, there isn't enough decent enough competition out there, but he's already a clear second.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:04

ewenhay wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:01 His biggest challenge will be remaining motivated now he's won back a version of the title.

Unless it's Joshua which gives him the chance to win back the others and become undisputed. I think that would motivate him.

A fight with Usyk? When he's only intending to fight twice more max? Nah

What should he do wait for 3 years between fights for a more interesting 2nd or 3rd option to come along? Right now Usyk would be one of his better available options.

Exactly. Compare it to who else is out there. AJ is the best fight, but then who? Usyk is easily up there as one of the better guys and would still rank well on Fury's resume. Maybe a Schwarz rematch would be more enticing

gilgamesh wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:04

ewenhay wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:01 His biggest challenge will be remaining motivated now he's won back a version of the title.

Unless it's Joshua which gives him the chance to win back the others and become undisputed. I think that would motivate him.

A fight with Usyk? When he's only intending to fight twice more max? Nah

What should he do wait for 3 years between fights for a more interesting 2nd or 3rd option to come along? Right now Usyk would be one of his better available options.

Wilder 3 then Joshua
Or if no rematch then Joshua and out.

I really don't think Fury is around for the long term.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:00 Tyson was a shell when Lenny beat him, the name looks good on the resume though

Fair comment, those were the first 2 names that came to mind. Nevertheless I still think that Fury won't ever be rated above Lewis because of the level of competition about.

Say for example he beats AJ, Whyte, Usyk, Pulev, Parker and Ruiz, that's about the best resume available that is possible to fight.

For me that doesn't stack up to Holyfield, Tyson, Klit, Morrison, Briggs, Tua, Golota, Bruno, Mercer and McCall.

Not sure when the dust settles that Wilder's side are going to want to go right into a third fight, if ever

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:06

gilgamesh wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:04

What should he do wait for 3 years between fights for a more interesting 2nd or 3rd option to come along? Right now Usyk would be one of his better available options.

Exactly. Compare it to who else is out there. AJ is the best fight, but then who? Usyk is easily up there as one of the better guys and would still rank well on Fury's resume. Maybe a Schwarz rematch would be more enticing

It would do very little for his resume to beat Usyk who has done nothing at heavyweight.

Let's see how he gets on against Chisora first

Beating Wilder again wouldn't do anything for his resume either. The only one who would really give it a significant boost is AJ

Coco wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:06

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:00 Tyson was a shell when Lenny beat him, the name looks good on the resume though

Fair comment, those were the first 2 names that came to mind. Nevertheless I still think that Fury won't ever be rated above Lewis because of the level of competition about.

Say for example he beats AJ, Whyte, Usyk, Pulev, Parker and Ruiz, that's about the best resume available that is possible to fight.

For me that doesn't stack up to Holyfield, Tyson, Klit, Morrison, Briggs, Tua, Golota, Bruno, Mercer and McCall.

Do you think Fury will be around for another 6 fights?

Can't see it myself

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 16:09 Beating Wilder again wouldn't do anything for his resume either. The only one who would really give it a significant boost is AJ

Which is why I don't think he will be around for long. He said himself last night he was almost done in terms of what he wanted to achieve

Yeah, think he has to be current #2 all time Heavy now. Although had Joshua not lost to Ruiz there would still be a valid claim for Joshua to be ahead. Prior to Ruiz, Joshua was quite the warm favourite to beat Wilder.

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

He won't have the competition to beat Lennox to first place. Fury has beaten some decent domestic level fighters a fair few no hopers and then 2 of the best 3 heavies we've seen in what, 15 years? Lennox consistently fought better opposition - for years.
It's between AJ and Fury for second. AJ has faced more dangerous fighters, but that win over Wilder puts Fury ahead.
If AJ were to beat Wilder, sooner rather than later, I'd still be looking to see what Wilder could do after that in order to determine what that win would mean.
As it stands, for me at least, AJ is close behind Fury and if he wants to get ahead, he needs to beat the man himself.
I was trying to think of a fighter AJ could beat to get ahead. I don't think there is one. Usyk has promise, but he is going to need to prove it - and at 33 with his only HW victory being an old, relatively inactive and never-that-good-anyway Chazz Wetherspoon I'm not entirely convinced he can fulfil that promise.
I don't put a great deal of stock into AJ getting battered by Ruiz. He came back with a changed gameplan and won convincingly. Lewis did it a couple of times. Was Rahman that much better than Ruiz?

He is one of the best british boxers for sure but needs to substantiate his record with more significant names in order to obtain that Lewis status. Sure he's above Frank Bruno or David Haye as of now.