In this

week’s mailbag, we tackle a pair of topics related to the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr

Usyk rematch (Fury’s legacy and his best possible strategy); a pair of your

takes on Floyd Schofield following the lightweight contender’s most recent

victory; plus letters about Katie Taylor being the gold standard of women’s

boxing, Jaron Ennis being a disappointment at welterweight, Jesse Rodriguez

being relegated to the sidekick role underneath other fighters, and whether

Errol Spence has again set himself up for failure.

 

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featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section

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TYSON

FURY’S LEGACY WILL BE DECIDED BY OLEKSANDR USYK REMATCH RESULT

It's going to be very, very

heavily weighted for calculating Tyson Fury's place among his fellow

heavyweight greats. A very, very important fight for his legacy.

 

Being bounced off the floor like

a basketball by Deontay Wilder, holding the linear title hostage due to

inactivity, playing around with a harmless MMA champion, and dropping a

squeaker to the skilled and resourceful Oleksandr Usyk can all be overlooked —

and will be — if Fury regains the title in style.

 

But if he loses this rematch, he

sinks clearly below the real great ones forever. It's just like that.

 

-Willow The Wisp

 

Tris Dixon’s response:  I can’t see Tyson Fury not getting into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame. 

I agree that his resume is

shallow given his reputation, and the Wilder results depend on how highly you

regard Wilder, I guess. The first fight was incredible given where he was in

his comeback, and I felt Fury was robbed of victory. He was brilliant in the

second fight. The third was Fight of the Year. I was impressed with Fury’s win

against Dillian Whyte. That might have been him at his best. The Francis

Ngannou fight was always going to be a no-win for Fury – though perhaps his

bank manager would argue contrarily.

 

If, however, Fury beats Usyk

well, widely, or even stops him, that will likely be his signature win. It will

certainly mean he’s defeated both every fighter he has faced in the pros and

the best fighter he has faced in the pros.

 

There is still a huge appeal in

the UK for a fight between Fury and Joshua. It won’t mean what it would have

meant a few years ago to people like you and me, but it would fill a soccer

stadium, and a win over Usyk and then victory over Joshua would make Fury’s

resume much more favorable.

 

JARON

“BOOTS” ENNIS IS A FRAUD AT WELTERWEIGHT

Jaron “Boots” Ennis is in love

with being a prospect. He’s achieved nothing at 147. He only fights at that

weight because he needs months to fight at 147. He is a fraud.

 -Knuckle sandwich

 

Lucas Ketelle’s response: Talented fighters struggle these days to land

regular fight dates. At the same time, people on social media seem more focused

on tearing down rather than building up fighters’ reputations. 

 

As one of the biggest defenders

of Jaron Ennis, it’s disheartening to see him still waiting for that marquee

matchup. While it’s understandable that securing fights is a challenge in a

landscape no longer built on being the best, Ennis could make strategic

concessions to push for these bouts. Instead, he’s faced with a largely

uninspiring rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian in a mandatory title defense

against an opponent Ennis clearly beat in 2023. 

 

The label of “fraud” is a bit

extreme. Ennis has passed multiple tests along the way. But “frustration” seems

like a more fitting replacement. Fans are clamoring for Ennis to unify titles

or at least engage in fights viewed as 50-50 matchups. This upcoming bout marks

his second fight of 2024 — a step in the right direction. And if he can make

the weight, there’s nothing fraudulent about that.

 

We’re living in an age where

calling someone a “weight bully” is intended to shame fighters who’ve mastered

their weight cuts like athletes in “The Hunger Games” training for survival. At

the core of this issue is a pressing question: Does Ennis possess Hall of Fame

potential? With only one significant fight under his belt, uncertainty

continues to loom over his future. And the longer that remains, the more fans

will get frustrated.

 

BAM

RODRIGUEZ RELEGATED TO SIDEKICK ROLE UNDER MATCHROOM BOXING

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is an

[idiot] to take Eddie Hearn’s offer. He's pretty much a sidekick, not getting

paid as much but fighting tougher competition while Jaron “Boots” Ennis acts

like a draw while fighting trash in a dead division.

 

-Groin Grabber

 

Tris Dixon’s response: There is a lot of negativity about Hearn in the

United States. With Bam, he is very much needed to support a show that was

otherwise a tough sell without him. That’s not Hearn’s fault. That’s the IBF’s

for giving Boots a rerun of a fight he already won easily.

 

Time will tell for Bam, but as

long as he keeps winning, I think he will find himself in some more big fights.

As a boxer, he doesn’t strike me as someone who does not want to test himself.

I’m sure he and trainer Robert Garcia will want all of the smoke — and they

will be pushing Hearn to deliver the most meaningful fights. 

 

You can’t forget the possibility

of him showing up on a bill in Riyadh in a huge fight, and he does great

business in Phoenix, which is promptly becoming one of the world’s best fight

cities, so I’m sure he will have options. A key thing is activity. This

mandatory defense against Pedro Guevara is not necessarily a fight we wanted,

but Bam is keeping his tools sharp, and he’ll be ready to go again in early

2025.   

 

FLOYD

SCHOFIELD HAS A POSSIBLE PATH FORWARD

Floyd Schofield has a lot of

career upside if he can use his boxing ability and stay out of too many

slugfests. Fast hands, a fighter's demeanor, and refreshingly candid post-fight

interviews had me entertained.

 

-Left Hook Louie 

 

Tris Dixon’s response: I like Schofield for what he brings in and outside

the ropes. As you say, sometimes we just need guys to get their hands dirty

and, perhaps more pertinently, guys who aren’t afraid to do that. Of course,

too many slugfests are not good for longevity, but the fact Schofield is

already calling out the likes of Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta “Tank” Davis

indicates to me that Schofield might not be thinking about boxing for another

10 years already. 

 

The sport will be a brighter

place if he does. That post-fight interview showed what boxing needs. I’ve

always said it would be boring if everyone was the same, and Schofield has done

a great job of setting himself apart from his peers.

 

FLOYD

SCHOFIELD DOESN’T DESERVE THE HYPE

Floyd Schofield is overrated as

hell. I see why Shakur Stevenson was laughing. This guy has so much developing

to do, it's not funny. All that in-close switching and being confused is crazy

also. Schofield isn’t ready for any of the top guys after fighting this basic

fighter [Rene Tellez Giron] and just looking OK. 

 

-Hitmanjosh

 

Tris Dixon’s response: The thing with Schofield is he has time on his

side. He’s 18-0 (12 KOs) and only 22 years old. He clearly has skills, but if

managed and matched properly — fighting three times a year with the right

fights as he matures, learns and improves — imagine where he could be in three

years. He would be 25 years old and 27-0 if he wins them all. Yes, I realize

he’s only fought once this year, but Schofield might become a much more rounded

fighter.

 

I agree that talk of Schofield

facing the big guns at 135 is otherwise premature. But I’m all for a strong,

deep division, and the emergence of Schofield is another bright spot at

lightweight. Credit to Giron, too. He is tough.

 

KATIE

TAYLOR IS THE TOP STAR IN WOMEN’S BOXING, FAR AND AWAY

There is only one female fighter

who commands the title of “Golden Girl” (“‘Golden Girl’ Gabriela Fundora becomes boxing's

youngest undisputed champ”).

And it isn't’ Gabriela Fundora. It's Katie Taylor. All other female fighters

can thank Katie Taylor for the money they now receive fighting. So until Katie

retires, this girl can stay in the queue.

 

-pad

 

Tris Dixon’s response: Katie has been outstanding for women’s boxing — and

boxing on the whole. She is a wonderful poster girl for the sport and carries

herself brilliantly. She has also been in a number of excellent fights, is

fan-friendly and has faced some of the best opposition. 

 

In Ireland, she is a brand of

her own, but I’m not sure she gets similar fanfare elsewhere. That said, let’s

see what her rematch against Amanda Serrano on the upcoming Jake Paul vs. Mike

Tyson show in Texas does for Taylor’s profile. It could really be a

gamechanger.

 

With that said, there is room

for more than one top female fighter, as I’m sure Claressa Shields would agree.

 

ONCE AGAIN,

ERROL SPENCE ISN’T DOING HIMSELF ANY FAVORS

Does Errol Spence really want to

continue fighting? He's made the same mistake of being too inactive again. I

get it: Terence “Bud” Crawford beat him up. But you can't be too inactive and

expect to be effective.

 

-Lefty0616

 

Tris Dixon’s response: Errol Spence didn’t sound too convincing to me

about his future or his recent past when we spoke in Las Vegas earlier this year. I don’t think his inactivity will help him at

all. Even Spence himself probably doesn’t know what he has left, and he might

not be given a true answer if he again goes in at a high level for his return –

if it happens.

 

I’d much rather Spence take a

couple of lesser fights and warm to the task again. But when you get to that

level, you only want certain money. And an eight-rounder on an undercard isn’t

going to pay the bills.

Of course, an Errol Spence at

his best and on the rampage at 154 would be incredible for that stacked

division. The odds are against Spence being at his best, however. His

inactivity on its own is rough enough. When added to Spence’s catalog of

trauma, the signs are not promising.

 

TYSON FURY

NEEDS TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN OLEKSANDR USYK REMATCH

Tyson Fury needs a performance

like he had in the Deontay Wilder rematch. Oleksandr Usyk can't handle

pressure; Derek Chisora showed us that. Pressure him, fight him and run him

down, and he will fold to the Gypsy King. Sadly I fear Fury may try to fight on

the back foot again. Big mistake.

 

-RoadOfTheGypsy

 

Owen Lewis’ response: There are a couple pieces to this. First: that Fury

needs the kind of performance he showed in his second fight with Deontay

Wilder. Nothing went wrong for him on the day that he bullied Wilder. And Fury

primarily did so by coming forward, which to many, seemed a suicide tactic

beforehand given Wilder’s napalm-laden right hand. Wilder proved unable to

fight going backward, leaving him a sitting duck for Fury’s right hand. It was

a phenomenal gameplan. 

 

Which leads us to your second

point: that Fury needs to do this against Usyk, and that Usyk has proven

himself vulnerable to pressure. Here, I think you’re off base. The Chisora

fight is often cited as the perfect game plan for fighting Usyk. But in rewatching

it to answer this question, I thought Chisora’s mauling aggression was

successful for all of two and two-thirds rounds. Then a sharp left hand from

Usyk buzzed Chisora. The big man started to slow down, and Usyk more or less

had his way for the rest of the fight. And while Usyk certainly seemed

uncomfortable in that initial phase, at no point did he look significantly

hurt.

 

Guess who was in attendance that

night, watching keenly? Anthony Joshua. And guess who also failed to employ the

come-forward, bullying strategy against Usyk for more than a couple rounds at a

time, despite fighting him twice.

 

There’s a reason why no one has

been able to steamroll Usyk. Multiple reasons, actually: He has fast, accurate

hands capable of landing sharp counters. His elite footwork and fitness tires

his opponents out quickly. And, though it’s less talked about than his other

attributes, Usyk has one hell of a chin. I actually think Fury, despite his

propensity for bizarre press conference answers, put it perfectly in an interview at the press conference for the rematch:

 

“If it was easy to walk Usyk

down… that’s Anthony Joshua’s style, that’s Daniel Dubois’ style. They’re big,

strong men who walk someone down with their hands up and batter them into

submission and knock them out. They couldn’t do it [to Usyk]. My style is

slickness, jabbing, moving, slipping and sliding. Why would I give that up to

walk forward… it doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t do it. All I’ve got to do to

win this rematch is little, tiny adjustments. And I mean small adjustments.”

 

I think Fury is right. When he

was in full flow in his first fight with Usyk, he arguably won five straight

rounds (the third through the seventh), and in doing so not only hurt Usyk but

made Usyk look more ordinary than ever before. Sticking to what worked before

rather than adopting a radically different strategy — against a much more

skilled opponent than Deontay Wilder, mind you — seems like the best bet.

Perhaps Fury is hiding his true intentions, as is his wont, but I don’t think

he’s mistaken in this line of thinking.

 

Now none of this is to say that

the blueprint from the Wilder II fight can’t work against Usyk. If Fury

sustains a torrid pace for four rounds and targets the body with venom, I can

picture him putting Usyk under even more duress than he did in their first

fight, and maybe knock Usyk down, for instance.

 

But I wouldn’t recommend this

game plan to Fury. Unless he can get a stoppage, which seems extremely

difficult given how tough Usyk is, that strategy will put Fury in deep trouble.

If he gasses out, then Usyk will dominate. Then there’s the matter of Fury’s

chin. In the first fight, Usyk not only showed he could hurt Fury badly but

probably weakened Fury’s punch resistance significantly with that brutal salvo

in the ninth round. By refusing to box from a distance, Fury would be walking

his vulnerable chin into Usyk’s preferred range.

 

As for Chisora, the man who you

say showed that Usyk can’t handle pressure? In a recent interview with TalkSPORT, he said that Usyk is too good to simply be beaten

by a swarming style, that Usyk exhausts his opponents early in fights and, most

notably, “100 per cent” will beat Fury again. Recall that Chisora has fought

Fury three times and been stopped by him twice.

 

The second Wilder fight might be

best viewed as an aberration, a great night against an opponent with enormous

power but also clear limitations. Fury, at heart, is an extraordinary boxer,

and in Usyk he is fighting another one. It’s no surprise, or a mistake, that

the Gypsy King wants to fight in the style that suits him best.

Want to be

featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section

below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select

readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.