Supposing Tyson Fury is as good as his word and he does indeed call it a career after his April fight with Dillian Whyte (barring the possible taking of crossover fight with Francis Ngannou, which Fury says he will look at having next year, not that he calls it a “real” fight) – does he go into the Top-10 all-time greatest heavyweights list?
Fury, if he beats Whyte and calls it quits, will of course be one of the rare few to have retired unbeaten – this rare at any weight – and Fury will have those big wins over Wladimir Klitschko, Deontay Wilder X2 (or X3 if you like) and Whyte on his resume. And Fury will be able to say he reigned as lineal champ for some time and that he was also WBC champ.
But is Fury’s resume, with a win over Whyte added to it, enough for him to be Top-10 all-time?
One expert who we always listen to doesn’t think so. Teddy Atlas, who spoke on The Schmo and The Pro show, says he doesn’t believe Fury has the “body of work” needed to go in the Top-10 best of all time.
“I don’t know that he’s been around long enough,” Atlas said of Fury, currently 31-0-1(22), and his worth as a Top-10 best ever heavyweight. “What he’s done is tremendous, with what’s there. But you need longevity to really have that kind of legacy when you’re talking about the likes of Joe Louis – 20-something title defense.
Even Larry Holmes, who was up there with a number of title defenses, when you’re talking about the Muhammad Alis, or the Jack Johnsons – first black heavyweight champion, a special guy – when you’re talking about this kind of fighters with their kind of history, with that kind of longevity and having fought that caliber, it’s not fair.
“To do it in a fair way, you’ve to look at the other guys, who weren’t around when you were around. So I don’t know that he [Fury] goes in the Top-10. Put your emotions aside and look at it in a cold, calculating way. Those other guys have been around a lot longer, done it a lot longer, with a lot better fighters. I know Fury beat a great puncher twice [Wilder], might have beat him three times, and I know he also beat a guy that was champion a long time, in Klitschko, who was 40-something years old. So I look at it all and Fury hasn’t had the body of work to be called one of the greats.”
It’s tough to disagree with Atlas. Legends like Ali, Johnson, Louis, and of course Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Jack Dempsey, Lennox Lewis, Holmes, and arguably Sonny Liston, Gene Tunney, and perhaps Wladimir Klitschko, all deserve to be ranked higher all-time than Fury.
Atlas is 100 percent correct when he suggests we need long memories when ranking the Top-10 greatest ever heavyweights. Fury is the main man now, but the enormous accomplishments that the above-listed greats had as long as 100 or more years ago can never be forgotten. Should never be forgotten
Do YOU think Fury deserves to go in the all-time heavyweight Top-10?