Boxing Junkie staffers are trying to have some fun while the sport is on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the questions fans love to ask even amid a busy schedule is, “Who would win if …?” With that in mind, we decided to create our own “Who Wins?” feature, in which we pit a single fighter against each of five potential opponents and indicate who we believe would win the fights.
We started the series with our No. 1 boxer pound-for-pound, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and moved down the list to No. 2 Terence Crawford, No. 3 Canelo Alvarez, No. 4 Naoya Inoue, No. 5 Oleksandr Usyk and No. 6 Gennady Golovkin and No. 7 Errol Spence Jr.
Next up is No. 8 Tyson Fury.
In this installment of Who Wins?, our staffers’ give their takes on how Fury would do against Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder a third time, Oleksandr Usyk, Dillian Whyte and Andy Ruiz Jr. We then tally Fury’s record in those fights and present our standings.
Fury is coming off his sensational seventh-round stoppage of Wilder in their rematch Feb. 22. He has not faced any of the other four opponents here.
We want to acknowledge that the choice of possible opponents is subjective. We’re looking for the best possible but also realistic foes for our featured boxers. One caveat: We won’t consider promotional and managerial rivalries that often stand in the way of the best matchups. And we’re operating under the assumption that none of our featured boxers will fight with ring rust as result of their forced coronavirus-related layoff.
The plan is to work our way down our pound-for-pound list each day. That means our featured fighter tomorrow will be No. 9 Juan Francisco Estrada.
So here goes: Fury vs. his five potential opponents.
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FURY (30-0-1, 21 KOs) VS. JOSHUA (23-1, 21 KOs)
Rosenthal: Joshua reminded us that he can box in his careful victory over Andy Ruiz Jr. in their rematch but he’s not going to outbox Fury. His only chance is to stop Fury or control the fight by making him uncomfortable with relentless aggression to eke out a decision. That’s hard to imagine after what we saw in the rematch with Ruiz. Fury, better and mentally tougher, will outbox, wear down and then stop Joshua in the late rounds.
Frauenheim: Who is Joshua? Is he the guy Andy Ruiz Jr. upset? Or the guy who beat Ruiz in a rematch? Hard to know. In the rematch he used his jab to great effect. He was careful, and he won. But Fury is good at taking opponents out of their comfort zone. He’ll rattle Joshua early with a punch or distraction. Fury, unanimous decision.
Nam: Joshua needs to recover his offense-first mentality if he stands a chance of beating Fury. He certainly won’t outbox him running around the ring and throwing one-twos. Joshua needs to come forward and set his feet and try to take Fury out. Unfortunately, that version of Joshua may be long gone. Fury hurts Joshua late en route to a clear points win.
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FURY VS. WILDER (42-1-1, 41 KOs)
Rosenthal: Fury now knows not only how to beat Wilder but how to dominate him, as he demonstrated in their rematch. Attack him, keep him on his back foot, don’t give him room to get anything done. And Wilder doesn’t (or at least didn’t) have the ring IQ to make adjustments. He and his team will come up with some sort of plan for the third fight but it won’t be enough. Fury by late KO.
Frauenheim: It’s not clear what Wilder can do without his right. Fury took away the leverage. There was no adjustment from Wilder. Wilder might adjust his wardrobe, ditching the 40-pound comic-book costume. But he’ll need to make adjustments within the ropes to win. Without knowing how to adjust, Fury wins the way he won the last one. Fury, mid-round TKO.
Nam: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Wilder is what he is: a boxing illiterate with game-changing power. Perhaps the one thing in Wilder’s favor during the layoff is that he’ll be more cognizant of Fury’s aggression in the rematch. But that might also be his undoing. There’s no easy answer for Wilder. Barring a colossal mental meltdown from Fury in the forthcoming months, Wilder is looking at a second straight loss. Fury on points.
FURY VS. USYK (17-0, 13 KOs)
Rosenthal: This is the worst style matchup for Usyk. The 6-foot-3 Ukrainian’s advantage over most heavyweights is his unusual skill set, quickness and relative athleticism. Fury is a towering 6-9, would have about a 50-pound weight advantage and can box and move about as well as Usyk. How could the smaller man win? He couldn’t. Fury would pick Usyk apart, break him down and likely stop him in the second half of the fight.
Frauenheim: Fury has a six-inch advantage in height. Usyk will have to look up at an angle severe enough to suffer a strained neck. He’ll be lucky if that’s all he suffers. Ever since his jump to heavyweight, there are questions about whether Usyk is big enough. Against some, maybe. Against Fury, no way. Fury, mid-round stoppage.
Nam: This is Usyk’s toughest fight in a tactical sense. Fury’s also taller and bigger, meaning Usyk will have to work extra hard just to get close enough to do some damage. Many of the things Usyk excels at – circling to his right, jabbing – may be rendered moot because of Fury’s herky-jerky mobility. But that’s assuming that Fury decides to play cute in the ring. Should Fury employ a more aggressive approach a la Wilder, he’ll find Usyk hard to find. Usyk by close decision.
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FURY VS. WHYTE (27-1, 18 KOs)
Rosenthal: Whyte has the bulk to stand up to Fury and an abundance of bravado but that won’t be nearly enough when they step into the ring. Fury will be able to do as he pleases, keep Whyte at a distance with is long jab, push him onto his back foot with measured aggression as he did against in the Wilder rematch and generally dominate the fight. Fury by KO around Round 8.
Frauenheim: Fury’s unique mobility will frustrate White. Whyte has some power, but he’ll never find Fury, whose agile footwork will leave Whyte lunging and missing throughout 12 rounds. Fury, unanimous decision.
Nam: The weakest challenger on this list for Fury. Whyte’s at his best when he’s facing fellow plodders. Fury’s dexterity and nimble footwork is going to cause all kinds of problems for him. Whyte also tends to fade late in a fight. Fury stops him late.
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FURY VS. RUIZ (33-2, 22 KOs)
Rosenthal: Ruiz at his best is a good, quick-handed boxer with some power, as we saw in his upset of Anthony Joshua and in a close loss to Joseph Parker. At his worst, as we saw in the Joshua rematch, he’s an ineffective blob. Fury is simply too long and too good for either version of Ruiz. It’s difficult to imagine the Mexican-American finding ways to land with any consistency. Fury by wide decision.
Frauenheim: Ruiz is way too small. He’s seven inches shorter than Fury, who is tall enough to be an NBA power forward. Ruiz’s challenge is complicated by Fury’s foot and hand speed. Ruiz has no choice but to walk inside, where he’ll get punished. Fury, mid-round TKO.
Nam: Ruiz has fast hands, but he’ll find it hard for them to reach long-limbed Fury. Fury will outwork Ruiz with the jab and duck and hold whenever Ruiz tries to get close. It’s a stick-and-move game plan for Fury. It won’t look pretty, but he’ll win a clear decision.
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THE FINAL TALLY
Tyson Fury: 14-1 (8 KOs)
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THE STANDINGS
Canelo Alvarez: 15-0 (6 KOs)
Naoya Inoue: 14-0-1 (5 KOs)
Vassiliy Lomachenko: 14-0-1 (4 KOs)
Tyson Fury: 14-1 (8 KOs)
Terence Crawford: 14-1 (3 KOs)
Errol Spence Jr.: 13-2 (6 KOs)
Oleksandr Usyk: 10-5 (2 KOs)
Gennadiy Golovkin: 9-6 (5 KOs)
Read more:
Who wins? Vassiliy Lomachenko vs. five potential opponents
Who wins? Terence Crawford vs. five potential opponents
Who wins? Canelo Alvarez vs. five potential opponents
Who wins? Naoya Inoue vs. five potential opponents
Who wins? Oleksandr Usyk vs. five potential opponents
Who wins? Gennadiy Golovkin vs. five potential opponents
Who wins? Errol Spence Jr. vs. five potential opponents