Tyson Fury retired from the sport without any marks. He had lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk and chose to give up after his second defeat.
While Fury’s followers see him as one of the all-time great heavyweights and Hall of Fame worthy, there’s nothing that he’s done that suggests that he deserves to be worthy of that high status.
Protected Record
Tyson’s career accomplishments are an example of how promoters match fighters in this era. He never fought any killers and likely would have been a regular 10-loss journeyman if he’d fought talented fighters instead of the guys he did fight.
During his best years of his 16-year professional career, Fury captured the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO heavyweight titles. His best career wins were against Wladimir Klitschko (39 years old) and Deontay Wilder.
The Gypsy King made loads of money without fighting any of the high-level heavyweights. Tyson was matched very well by his management, creating a marketable fighter without him ever being tested.
Fury’s Dodged Opponents
Daniel Dubois
Anthony Joshua
Martin Bakole
Bakhodir Jalalov
Joseph Parker
Zhilei Zhang
Agit Kabayel
Moses Itauma
Filip Hrgovic
Richard Torrez
If Fury ran the gauntlet through this 10-fighter list, he would probably have lost to at least eight, if not all, ten. That’s the reality of it. He was never that good, and you have to ask why Fiury was never matched against any of those fighters.
Hall of Fame Mirage?
“To me, that’s the best heavyweight title fight [Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3] I’ve ever covered. So, he’ll have that legacy,” said Dan Rafael to Secondsout, talking about Tyson Fury having a legacy because of his win over Deontay Wilder in their trilogy match in 2021.
“He made a lot of fans, and he made a ton of money. For about five or six years, he was the best heavyweight in the world,” continued Rafael with his heavy praise on Fury. “He has a big win, although a terrible fight, but a legitimate win, dethroning [39-year-old] Wladimir Klitschko [in 2015], who had been the champion and the #1 fighter in the weight class for a decade.
“So, when you take into account that he [Fury] dethrone a great fighter like Wladimir Klitschko, and he had that run, he went on, and he had the trilogy, which was great, against Deontay Wilder,” said Rafael.
You can’t give Fury full credit for beating Wladimir because he fought a 39-year-old fighter who was at the end of a long career. At the time, the ONLY reason Klitschko was still on top at the time Fury fought him was because he’d been matched against a string of beatable fighters throughout most of the past 12 years after being knocked out by Lamon Brewster in 2005 and Corrie Sanders in 2003. Wladimir had fought no one for a solid decade, and he was NOT the #1 heavyweight in the division in the true sense.
Vitali Klitschko was still fighting at the time and was viewed as the best, not Wladimir. Hence, Vitali was the one who avenged Wladimir’s knockout losses to Ross Puritty and Corrie Sanders. If Wladimir was the #1 heavyweight, why did he get knocked out by those two, and why didn’t he even try to avenge the losses?
Was Fury Truly #1?
“You also look at the things he overcame in his personal life, whether it be his drug and alcohol or dealing with his mental health issues, being suicidal, blowing up in weight, and getting himself together,” said Rafael about Fury. “Not only that, he could come back to boxing but come back to boxing and being the #1 guy in the heavyweight division. So, you got to respect what he’s done. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer, there’s no doubt about that,” said Rafael about Fury.
I disagree with Rafael about Fury ever being the #1 heavyweight. The Gypsy King NEVER proved himself as the best heavyweight during the five to six-year run he was on. He beat an old, washed-up 39-year-old Wladimir, who was never as good as naive fans thought due to how his management matched him. Other than Klitschko, who did Fury ever beat?
Is This Hall Of Fame Worthy?
– Wladimir Klitschko
– Deontay Wilder
– Dillian Whyte
– Derek Chisora
– Otto Wallin
– Francis Ngannou
– Tom Schwartz
– Christian Hammer
– Sefer Seferi
– Steve Cunningham
You’d have to be simple to think Fury is Hall of Fame-worthy, with those fighters being his best career wins. Fury is just another example of how fighters are packaged to be sold like products to the public, matched against weak opposition to make them look great.