Throughout the long, long history of the division, there have not been too many drawn world heavyweight title fights. But of the few that we have seen, Tyson Fury was involved. The first fight between Fury and Deontay Wilder was, of course, a draw, with Fury coming on way stronger to get the big win in the rematch.
Now, Bernard Hopkins, a pretty shrewd and sage boxing analyst if ever there was one, says Fury will go home with another draw on his record when he fights Anthony Joshua. The all-British super-fight has been spoken about a lot just recently, with fans now hoping to see it – or actually two slices of the rivalry – next year some time. And B-Hop, when asked for his prediction on who wins, told IFL TV that there will be no winner, the fight will be a draw. However, in the return fight AJ will “make adjustments” and get the win, Hopkins predicts.
“It’ll be a draw, and they’ll fight a second time, and the second time Joshua would beat him,” Hopkins said. “I’m going to go with this one. The first fight is going to be a draw, I’m telling you. The second fight Joshua wins, but the first fight will be a draw because it’s going to be hard to score, and that’s when the controversy comes in with who got the rounds. The second fight will happen, and Joshua is going to win. I figure [Joshua] makes the adjustments, figures him out, and realizes he’s got to go for the body instead of the head. And then he will fall. The head will hit the knees.”
Interesting stuff from “The Executioner.” Maybe a Fury-Joshua showdown will indeed be a close affair, with the judges and the fans split over who actually won. As to AJ stopping Fury in the rematch, it is interesting that Hopkins talks about a body attack doing the job. Who has really gone to Fury’s body in an attempt to bring his guard down? Wilder was all headhunting, Klitschko never threw much at all, and most recently, Wilder was one massive disappointment in the return with Fury.
Maybe Hopkins is right on both scores. There was a time when a draw in a big world title fight came as a big surprise. Sadly these days, we are used to seeing controversial decisions, draws that please absolutely nobody included.
Right now, though, there is a long way to go before Fury and Joshua can get into the ring with each other, as Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn have both said.