Six degrees of separation is a theory that everyone in the world is separated by no more than six social connections.
In other words, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Queen Elizabeth. Or so the concept goes.
We’re borrowing the six degrees concept – well, sort of loosely – to connect fighters from the past to their more contemporary counterparts in our new occasional feature, “Degrees of Separation.”
Example: Let’s connect Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Super easy; we did it in two steps. Senior fought Grover Wiley, who fought Junior.
In this installment of the Boxing Junkie feature, we wanted to link another father and son set: heavyweight champ Tyson Fury and his dad, John Fury, who suddenly has an itch to fight a comebacking Mike Tyson.
The elder Fury, who at 6-foot-3 is six inches shorter than his son, had a pro career. He was 8-4-1 (1 KO) between 1987 and 1995. And he faced one big-name opponent, one-time titleholder Henry Akinwande, who stopped him in three rounds.
Akinwande was the fighter who allowed us to link father and son in seven steps. Check it out:
John Fury fought …
Henry Akinwande, who fought …
Oliver McCall, who fought …
Lennox Lewis, who fought …
Vitali Klitschko, who fought …
Chris Arreola, who fought …
Deontay Wilder, who fought …
Tyson Fury
Could you do it in fewer steps? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook. Or you can contact me on Twitter. And please follow us!
Read more:
Degrees of separation: Connecting John L. Sullivan to Deontay Wilder
Degrees of Separation: Linking Filipino greats Flash Elorde, Manny Pacquiao
Degrees of Separation: Linking Japanese greats Fighting Harada and Naoya Inoue
Degrees of Separation: Linking Tyson Fury to first U.K.-born heavyweight champ
Degrees of Separation: Connecting Canelo Alvarez with Mexican legends
Degrees of Separation: Linking the Mayweathers
Degrees of Separation: Linking Manny Pacquiao to Pancho Villa