IF FURY MET ALI...
14.10.21

IF FURY MET ALI...

By Alan Hubbard

“I am the greatest!“ That historic  phrase, with its familiar echoes from more than half of the century ago, came as Tyson Fury celebrated his catch-your-breath conquest of Deontay Wilder to finally conclude their terrific trilogy in Las Vegas last weekend.

Some 24 hours later Fury had modified his boast to claim that in fact he was “the greatest of his generation.”

Well said, Tyson. Great as undoubtedly you are, to my mind – and most others who have been around the boxing scene for more years than we care to remember – there is only one Greatest. The one – and only – Muhammad Ali.

I maintain that the Ali forced into exile at his zenith in 1968 as an undefeated 27-year-old surely would have beaten any heavyweight champion who ever lived, from John L Sullivan through to Fury.

This is not to diminish Fury’s achievements in any way. He is a fantastic fighter, truly the best heavyweight of his time.

The Gypsy King is now right up there on the plinth of heavyweight giants in every sense.

As one who witnessed the majority of Ali’s title fights I believe he would have been a shade too fast, too clever and too intuitive even for both Tyson’s, Fury and Iron Mike as he was for Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and would have been for  Joe too Louis, Jack Johnson, Jake Dempsey and co-.But what contests those matches would have been, especially Ali v Fury. The result, particularly if they battled over 15 rounds, as Ali did in most of his championship bouts, would have been a close call, perhaps  even -split decision . But  for me Ali would’ve nicked the verdict.

Alas, we can only dream of such a happening. As the Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren, who helped bring Fury back from the deep depths of depression to stand high among the fistic legends of the past remarked, “You would pay good money just to see a pre-fight press conference between them, let alone an actual fight.”

True, Fury would have matched Ali stunt for stunt and word for word as the masters of hype tried to psyche each other out.

Indeed, though sadly Ali is no longer with us, there remain some striking similarities between them. Both built careers on being blatant exhibitionists with the gift of the gab as well as the jab; both came from humble, though not impoverished, backgrounds, never hungry fighters in the literal sense.

Both, too, had to fight prejudice – Ali as a young black man growing up in America’s Deep South and Fury with his proud Traveller background. They also committed themselves to religion – Ali in famously converting to Islam and Fury a proselytising Christian. Moreover both went from being loathed to loved, and became pugilistic Pied Pipers, followed and idolised by fans young and old wherever they went.

They shared a penchant for big families – Ali had nine kids and Fury is now 9catching him up with six!

They also shared an imposing orthodoxy and an ability to shock and amaze us.

Both were massive underdogs when they first won world championship belts, Ali against the ogre-like Liston and Fury stunning the ageing yet enduring Wladimir Klitschko.

And now both have the distinction of being ultimately triumphant in  respective trios of classics, which go down in history as arguably the best ever, Fury V Wilder III like Ali v Frazier III dramatically ending in the penultimate round.

I may be of a certain vintage but I like to think I’m not one of those rheumy-eyed old codgers who thinks everything was rosier in the good old days. That ain’t necessarily so! But I do believe the Thrilla in Manila just had the edge over the pulsating punch-up in Las Vegas that BT Box office viewers in the UK were lucky enough to witness.

When debating greatness between heavyweight czars  we should remember that this was only Fury’s fourth world title fight: Ali had 22 in his 61-fight career. Of these 14 were against former world champions.

The time may come when 31-year-old Fury truly can declare himself to be the greatest heavyweight of all time.Meantime he will continue to confound, amuse and entertain us in the ring and out now that he is right up there in the pantheon of legends. But unlike some of his contemporaries he is very much his own man, one.who will dictate who and when he fights next.

My suspicion is that he will not linger longer than he feels is necessary. Maybe just two or three more contests – if you can term them that such is his present superiority.

With that much £200 million all-British blockbuster with Anthony Joshua currently out of the window after AJ’s surrender of his various belts to fellow former Olympic champion Oleksand Usyk, next up for Fury Is due  to be Dillion Whyte, the Briton who is the mandatory challenger for the WBC title so brilliantly retained by the ever Lazarus-like Tyson despite two knockdowns.

Joshua, if he has the stomach for the fight, could still get that mega- pmatch with Fury by beating Ukrainian Usyk In their contracted  return, but I would not put my house on it. Another win for slick Usyk puts him in the frame for a Fury fight. This is one I would love to see for I believe Usyk is the only one around who might be savvy enough to frustrate Fury, despite the disparity in size and weight. For the ex-world cruiserweight kingpin boxes with craft and intelligence and most importantly can absorb a good whack as he showed when taming a timid Joshua.

With no American heavyweight of substance around now that Wilder looks broken beyond repair after that 11th round stoppage lying face down on the floor, Britain really does rule the ring in the heavyweight division and yet another Londoner, Joe Joyce is also  right up there in the mix. The silver medallist from the Rio Olympics five years ago awaits a possible upgrade to gold with the exposure of rigged judging which may have affected his final against Frenchman Tony Yoka, which he seemed clearly to have won.

Joyce is a nominated contender for the winner of Joshua-Usyk II but it would not surprise me to see him facing Fury in London some time next year.

Almost anything is possible in boxing these days but the one certainty is that Tyson Fury is the one with the world at his fists.

Never miss an event - Sign up for our newsletter and receive updates about all upcoming fights
32Red
UniBet
TNT Sports