Fury Dethrones Wilder with a Dominant Performance. Is AJ Next?

(Featured photo : TSN)

According to many, Tyson Fury wasn’t supposed to win this rematch with WBC World Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder, which was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, (*cough* Paradise *cough), Nevada. Fury was supposed to be too heavy, weighing more than he did in their first fight. He was supposed to have some sort of ankle injury from doing something “stupid”. He seemed to be less focused for this fight than he had for the first, and Wilder, who came into this fight in fantastic shape would take advantage of that by knocking out the “Gypsy King”. Instead, none of that happened. In fact, it was the total opposite that occurred. Starting off immediately in the first round against Wilder, Fury unleashed a wrath that rocked the undefeated World Champion, and it didn’t stop until Wilder’s corner threw in the towel in the 7th round, ending the fight, and making Fury the new WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World, (to go along with his rightful legacy claim as the Lineal Champion), and the new The Ring World Heavyweight Champion, which was vacant. (For those that don’t know, that is the belt that looks like the belt that Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang had and fought over in the Rocky film series). It was a dominant performance. Possibly, Fury’s best showing ever, and that’s saying a lot.

Fury, 30-0 1, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, was the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and Lineal World Champion in 2015, but was stripped of all of his alphabet titles, (except the Lineal claim of course, because to be The Man, you have to beat The Man! WOOOO!), when he simply stopped training and fighting due to some serious mental health issues, and his battles with drugs and alcohol. In a fantastic episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Fury admitted that he was in such a dark and destructive place at that time, he even considered suicide. Many, many times. (I will add the YouTube link of that episode below). Luckily, Fury had a great support system and was able to slowly climb out of the darkness.

After not fighting for almost exactly 3 years, and no longer an alphabet title World Champion, Fury made his comeback fight in June of 2018, defeating Sefer Seferi. After a few more victories, Fury was back in the title hunt and battled the WBC Champion Wilder in 2018, (ironically, the WBC and The Ring World titles were the only belts Fury had never won before), to a controversial draw. Many boxing experts, analysts and pundits (and myself), believed Fury should have won that fight by decision. But like in MMA, or Kickboxing, or any other combat sport, never leave the decision making to the judges. So Wilder ended up retaining his title with that draw.

And though he hadn’t officially won that fight against Wilder, Fury showed his superiority as a boxer by outclassing the more clumsy, static but powerful Wilder throughout the entire fight. That is until Wilder, who despite his technical boxing and footwork flaws, still was able to knock Fury down twice in the fight, with the most devastating one in the final 12th round. It was with a punch so hard that it would have killed any mere mortal. But we are talking about the “Gypsy King” here. Looking dead, the fight seemed to be over. Even Wilder started celebrating as the referee was making the 10 count. But then Fury just opened his eyes, sat up like he was The Undertaker from the WWE, got back to his feet to break the count, and then attacked a shocked Wilder to WIN THE ROUND! (Eeeewhhaaatttt?!?!?) Yes, he was knocked down hard, looked like he was knocked out, but got up and STILL won the round by out boxing Wilder. Just outstanding!

Still the fight was a draw, and a rematch was inevitable. While England’s favorite son, Anthony “AJ” Joshua had become the darling of the heavyweight division, by collecting the titles that Fury had been stripped of, “AJ” was TKO’d in a major upset by California’s own Andy Ruiz jr. A few months later, Joshua dominated Ruiz in a rematch in Saudi Arabia (*cough* blood money *cough*), and regained the belts by a unanimous decision. With Fury beating Wilder, and Joshua beating Ruiz, it is time to give all boxing fans what they have wanted for the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis retired in 2004. And that is to unify all the alphabet belts to create ONE World Heavyweight Champion. The Unified & Undisputed World Champion! Just like Lewis, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and briefly, Riddick Bowe had been decades ago.

(After defeating Holyfield to become the Unified & Undisputed World Champion, Bowe then dumped the WBC title into a trash can (Alundra Blayze/Madusa Miceli style for you old school WWE/F sports entertainment fans), fracturing the unified titles, so he didn’t have to face off against the WBC’s mandatory number 1 contender, a man that defeated Bowe at the 1988 Summer Olympics for the Gold Medal, Lennox Lewis. Sadly, a pro fight between the two never happened. Rumor has it that Bowe was ducking Lewis because he knew he couldn’t defeat him. But unless Bowe comes out and says it, it isn’t confirmed. For the record, Bowe never squared off against Tyson either. But it’s safe to say that A LOT OF MONEY was left on the table because those clashes never happened. It’s really a shame. Lewis would still go on and re-unify the titles later on to become the Undisputed World Champion.) The only true obstacle for this current possible unification fight from happening, is promoter, and “AJ’s” manager, Eddie Hearn.

Though very technically talented and strong, the knock on “AJ” is that he hasn’t faced anyone of any merit, besides the past his prime legend, Wladimir Klitschko. And then he got embarrassed by getting knocked down and losing his titles to someone most people have never heard of in Ruiz. Klitschko, along with his brother Vitali, were legendary World Champions, but dominated in an era where there was no strong competition for them to fight against, (unless they fought each other, but that was never going to happen as both brothers promised their mother they would never do that. And they kept their word right to retirement). Beating Klitschko was a major accomplishment for Joshua, especially when he beat him at home in London, England at the new Wembley Stadium.

But Fury had already beaten Klitschko before AJ did. And now Fury just defeated another big time boxing name in Wilder, so many are wondering if Hearn is now going to protect (hide) Joshua even more, after witnessing Fury literally destroying “The Bronze Bomber” last night. Maybe Hearn might book Joshua to fight Ruiz in a rubber match instead of fighting Fury? Taking to twitter, Hearn stated that this will not be the case. Instead, we could be seeing a Fury vs Joshua unification bout later this year! But in the end, Hearn is a promoter, (I sometimes call him the Don King of the modern era), so I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

Ofcourse I am! And AJ wants it bad..this fight is gonna and has to happen this year!

— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) February 23, 2020

No need for a third let’s go straight to it in the Summer! #undisputed

— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) February 23, 2020

If Fury fought better than what most people were expecting, then Wilder looked worse than he ever has in his career. At 42-0 1, with 41 knockouts before this fight, Wilder seemed to be in the best shape of his life. That is until the bell rung in the first round and Fury charged him like a bull. Rocked with punches, and getting outmaneuvered by Fury’s better boxing skills, footwork and evasive defense, Wilder could not land his signature lights out right hand. In many ways, Wilder’s shortcomings were completely exposed in this fight.

In the 3rd round, Fury was the one knocking people down when he dropped Wilder with a solid right hand. Wilder got back up but his equilibrium and legs were never the same after. In the 5th Round, Fury dropped Wilder again, and Wilder got back up from that too, showing lots of heart and grit like a true champion, but with his shaky legs, and bloody face and ear, (Wilder was taken to the hospital after the fight. There was a strong possibility that he suffered a ruptured ear drum from that knockdown punch in the 3rd round. This would explain why his balance was so off for the rest of the fight), he was no longer into this fight. After some headlocks, which Fury lost a point for because of it, and a strange moment when Fury had Wilder up against the ropes and starting licking his blood, (who does he think he is, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins?!?!?!), Wilder looked in serious trouble.

Fury’s corner finally had seen enough and wanted to protect their fighter by throwing in the towel at 1:39 of the 7th round. Wilder, who is no quitter, protested the stoppage to the referee, but that quickly ended once he found out the fight was stopped due to his own coaches. For the first time in his career, Wilder lost and was TKO’d. And after 11 successful World title defenses, he had lost his belt. Fury was the new WBC and The Ring Heavyweight Champion of the World, (as mentioned above, finally winning the two World Title belts he had yet to win in his career).

The Ringside Boxing analytics show that Fury landed 82 punches to Wilder’s 34, with 58 of them being power punches in the 7 round fight. In their first match, that went the full 12 round distance, Fury only threw 34 punches total, showing the major increase in his offensive attack. In this fight, Wilder just threw 34 punches and just 18 power shots. None of them really connecting hard enough to do any damage.

A rematch between the two has already been signed before this fight even started, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. If Hearn is to be believed that we are getting (FINALLY!) a World Title unification fight between Fury and Joshua later this year, then maybe we might see Wilder go up against former “AJ” conqueror Andy Ruiz jr.? With the winner then taking on the winner of the Fury-“AJ” bout. Time will tell. For now, Fury will celebrate his long awaited return as a World Heavyweight Champion and he started the party in true bonkers Fury style, by getting the MGM crowd to sing “American Pie” along with him. (What a character!)

Be as it may, after an exciting era of heavyweight boxing from 1989-2003, (and way before my time when the boxing G.O.A.T Muhammad Ali was making history, and Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano before him), it looks like the heavyweight division is finally heating up and getting exciting to watch again. And as a long time boxing fan and former amateur boxer myself, I feel this is only the beginning of something truly great and special. It’s about time! So the ball is in your court now Hearn!

*Here is the video of Tyson Fury talking to Joe Rogan about the darkest time in his life.

*For those interested, this is an hour long, but fantastically done documentary by Rummy’s Corner, about the legendary heavyweight boxing era from 1989 to 2003. It’s a great watch and I highly recommend it.

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