Roy Jones Jr. knows a thing or two about success in boxing. And he’s not the slightest bit surprised that Tyson Fury has enjoyed quite a bit of it.
Jones was asked during a recent iFL TV interview what he thought of the Englishman’s smashing performance against Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas, which ended in a seventh-round knockout that gave Fury a heavyweight title.
The former four-division titleholder’s response:
“Tyson Fury is one of the smartest guys in boxing today. I told Tyson Fury about three or four years ago that if he gets his act together, get himself in shape, he’ll be real happy with the outcome because he can beat multiple other guys.
“… He’s smarter than most of them. He’s more gifted in boxing than most of them. He uses his tools smarter. Muhammed Ali was the greatest of all time. But Muhammed Ali only used 65% of boxing skills. [The] rest of it he used his mind. Tyson Fury has a mind like Ali. He can beat anybody.”
Fury has been victorious in all but one of his fights, a disputed draw against Wilder in December 2018. And, again, he got it right in the rematch a few months ago.
He first struck gold in November 2015, when he thoroughly outboxed Wladimir Klitschko to end the Ukrainian’s long reign as heavyweight champ.
Fury then left boxing to deal with multiple personal issues but returned to become the No. 1 big man in the sport once again. He’s No. 8 on the Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound list.
Of course, Wilder probably will get a chance to change all that after exercising his contractual right to a third fight with Fury, although it’s not clear when it will happen because of the coronavirus pandemic.