About a year after Lennox Lewis became the undisputed world heavyweight champion, he fought David Tua, a heavy-handed New Zealander, in November 2000 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for the WBC, IBF versions and IBO. of the crown.
It was my first time attending a world heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas and I really understood the hype about Tua’s devastating left hook and the evidence of a record showing he had knocked out decent fighters like John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman. .
The thing was, Tua was a small guy. At least for a heavyweight boxer. He was 5-foot-10, compared to Lewis, who was 6-foot-5 and nearing the end of the prime of his career. Still, many wondered if Tua’s power would make the champion uncomfortable.
Lewis won by what is known in the industry as a “loose” points decision. Which is another way of saying that he won virtually every round. It was a dominant victory, so much so that those expecting fireworks called it a “boring party” and regretted that it was not in danger.
I still remember it as one of the best boxing exhibitions I have ever seen in my life. It was sweet science come to life. Lewis taught Tua, and everyone watching in the ring, a boxing lesson in how to defuse a potentially problematic opponent.
Tyson Fury had a chance to show his greatness this weekend but came up short against Oleksandr Usyk
He was shaken badly by Usyk in the ninth round and lost on points to the Ukrainian.
After suffering his first professional defeat, Fury should not be considered an all-time great, unlike fellow Brit Lennox Lewis (pictured).
Mail Sport’s Oliver Holt believes Lewis’ ability to deal with different styles sets him apart from Fury
The champion kept the challenger outside the entire time. He made him eat a hard left jab round after round after round. He reduced Tua to throwing wild hay floating in the cool air. When the final bell rang, Lewis barely had a mark on him.
It would be easy to make too close a comparison between Tua and Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk is a more accomplished fighter. And he’s five inches taller than Tua. But the fact is that when Tyson Fury entered Saturday’s fight against the Ukrainian, he was blessed with many of the same physical advantages over his opponent that Lewis had over Tua.
One of boxing’s oldest adages is that “a good big beats a good little” and perhaps that was why most of the sport’s pundits picked Fury to beat Usyk in Riyadh. But Fury doesn’t have the same skills, the same ability or the same intelligence that Lewis had and he couldn’t get the job done.
There were moments, in the middle rounds of their epic encounter in Saudi Arabia, when Fury made the fight look like a physical mismatch, but then he became distracted by the need to taunt Usyk and show off to the audience and allowed Usyk, a teacher. strategist, to adapt his plan and fight his way back into the fight. No wonder Lewis, who was in the ring, criticized Fury’s tactics.
Much of the fight’s aftermath has focused on praising the remarkable performance of Usyk, whose split decision victory over Fury made him the first fighter to hold the undisputed version of the heavyweight crown since Lewis all those years ago. The victory has consolidated the Ukrainian as, indisputably, the greatest heavyweight of this generation.
There have also been a lot of comments about the rude behavior of Fury and his entourage before and after the fight. His father, John, headbutted a member of Usyk’s crew in the days before the fight and Fury himself suggested after the fight that Usyk had won because people “are on the side of a country at war.” “.
Fury blamed his defeat on judges favoring Usyk because his country is currently at war.
Fury was also criticized for his behavior in the lead-up to the fight, with security forced to intervene when he lost his cool with Usyk at Friday’s weigh-in.
Fury also didn’t criticize his father after he head-butted a member of Usyk’s team earlier in fight week.
I don’t give too much importance to any of those things. They are certainly less significant than the way boxing has done its best to look the other way at Fury’s two-year suspension for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, eight years ago, pretend it never happened and present it as a champion of the people.
I have a bit of experience in these matters and perhaps it’s enough to say that if you expect banter and sweet decorum from Fury and his entourage, you’re in for a rather unpleasant surprise. Many of Fury’s opinions are repellent. So is much of his behavior. But this is boxing, not tea and toast in the palace.
As for the comment about Ukraine, on this occasion I think Fury deserves a little peace of mind. He had just been in an incredible fight. A few minutes earlier, he had been staggering around the ring in the ninth round, barely controlling his senses. To put his comment about Ukraine into perspective, a few seconds later he wished everyone a Happy New Year. It didn’t make much sense.
However, all of this has been allowed to obscure a harsher truth for Fury and his followers. His loss to a man who was revealing so much to him in terms of height, reach and weight has exploded once and for all the myth that Fury is one of the greatest heavyweights to ever grace the sport.
Usyk belongs in that category, certainly, but not Fury. Wladimir Klitschko was a good champion, not a great champion, and Fury dethroned him in 2015, a couple of weeks before Klitschko’s 40th birthday, when the Ukrainian fighter was just one fight away from the end of his career.
Oleksandr Usyk proved he is the best heavyweight of his generation by beating the bigger man.
Fury couldn’t get the job done and should now be seen as a very good heavyweight and not a great heavyweight.
Most of Fury’s reputation is based on that and his trilogy of fights with Deontay Wilder, a big puncher but a limited fighter. Fury drew one and won two of those fights. But he needed more than that to get past Usyk and he didn’t have it. He did not lack courage or skill, but he did lack discipline and application and it cost him.
Fury is a talented, brave, and tremendously resilient fighter who showed each of those traits in his fight with Usyk. The way he recovered from the blows he took in the ninth round almost defied belief. He was incredibly impressive and immensely brave.
The small matter of drug prohibition aside, he’s been a decent world champion. And he has been one of Britain’s best heavyweights, perhaps second only to Lewis. None of these praises should be withheld. But on Saturday night at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena, he came face to face with true greatness and when the moment came, Fury couldn’t look him in the eye.
Chelsea would be crazy to fire Pochettino
There still appears to be some suggestion that the lasting gift to English football that is the combined trust of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali is considering sacking Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino at some point in the next fortnight.
If it weren’t for the utter ineptitude of many of the other decisions they’ve made this season, it’s the kind of suggestion that would make people laugh.
After finally beginning to understand the chaos that Chelsea’s owners bequeathed to them and ending the club’s season with a run of results that have made them look like they could be ready to challenge for the top four again next season, it would be an absolute madness to fire Pochettino now.
Which means, of course, that’s probably precisely what Boehly and Eghbali will do.
Chelsea may still sack Mauricio Pochettino this summer, but it would be a crazy decision
Klopp makes peace with the press
Among the many insights Jurgen Klopp offered about his time at Anfield during his departure from Liverpool over the past week, he spoke more thoughtfully than most managers about his relationship with the press.
“The thing is,” Klopp said, “you want to know exactly what I can’t tell you.” You want to write exactly what the public should not know. I know we had a couple of issues from time to time, but it was never personal, even when it sounded pretty personal. I am at peace with all of you.
“If I were sitting in front of a referees’ meeting now, I’m not sure I would be able to say the same thing.”
Jurgen Klopp made peace with the press before saying goodbye to Liverpool on Sunday