By: Hans Themistode
Tyson Fury wears a few different hats.
One of those would be the one that he wears at home as a husband and father. Another, is one that names him one of the best Heavyweight fighters in the world. His most recent hat, which calls him the WBC Heavyweight champion, is one that he wears daily, but not everyone believes he should be sporting it.
“It’s not over,” former champion Deontay Wilder told The PBC Podcast. ‘In my eyes I don’t see Fury as a champion. It’s still going, he ain’t the champion yet, we’ve got one more fight left.”
The scoreboard might be tilted in Fury’s favor at 1-0-1, through two fights with Wilder, but most of the world believes that Fury is the better fighter. Regardless, Wilder is right. The two have one more fight which was scheduled to take place in mid July. But with COVID-19 pressing pause on all sporting events, their rematch has been pushed back tentatively to October.
But forget about their third contest for a moment. Wilder not viewing Fury as a champion doesn’t sit well with someone who knows a thing or two being one.
“The guy beat you,” said hall of famer Roy Jones Jr. “You fought a seven-round fight and a 12-round fight, that’s 19 rounds and the guy probably won 14 or 15 of the 19 rounds, so how can you say he’s not a real champion? He beat you and took you out for your title, so how can you say he’s not a real champion? You can’t call him nothing but a real champion.”
Wilder may not have the boxing skills that Fury does, but he does have a right hand that no one else in boxing has either. With that being said, the former champ is being overlooked as the boxing world looks toward a more interesting contest.
Anthony Joshua is an enigma. On one end he’s a unified champion with a great resume. But on the other hand, something seems to be missing. Joshua was on the wrong end of a knockout loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in June of 2019 before bouncing back six months later. He’s a great fighter, but the best in the world? That’s a tough question to answer.
Joshua believes so, and he’s spent a bit of time recently calling out Fury in every single interview. It’s come to the point where if Joshua is asked what time it is, he is likely to bring up Fury’s name instead.
A win over Wilder isn’t a given for Fury, but he has called Wilder one of the easiest fights he’s ever had. A matchup with Joshua though, could be the real test he’s looking for.
“It’s going to be a good fight,’ said Jones. ‘I think it’s going to be a tougher fight for him [Fury] than Wilder was because Joshua has more weaponry in terms of what he can bring to the table. He’s already brought a few plans to the table, so it’ll be tough.”