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This is why I don't get all the outrage at Stephen A. Smith, who is a casual observer of the sport, when you have followers of the sport writing **** like this.
I haven’t followed the heavyweights closely in recent years, as I find the welterweight and middleweight divisions generally more interesting. But watching Tyson Fury fight, and comparing him to Muhammad Ali, nearly all of whose fights I saw, as well as Mike Tyson and other more recent heavyweights, I find it hard to see how any of them could have beaten Fury.
I think a Tyson Fury who is in condition and clear headed, as he was last night, would have crushed Ali, Joe Frazier and even Larry Holmes. He is just as clever and almost as fast as Ali and Holmes, and punches harder with a far longer reach. I don’t see how shorter heavyweights, like Frazier and Mike Tyson, could have contended with the 6′ 9″ Fury. No doubt they would have tried to burrow in, but Fury’s impressive skills would, I think, have kept them at bay and punished them when they came in close. How do you think a 4′ 11″ boxer would have fared against Tyson? That is the same height advantage Fury would have over Iron Mike.
In short, I think Tyson Fury at his best could have beaten any modern heavyweight champion, and maybe any champion of the past, including Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. A controversial view? No doubt. But Marciano was only 5′ 11″, 10 inches shorter than Fury. Louis at 6′ 2″ was seven inches shorter, while his 76″ reach was nine inches less than Fury’s. I think Fury’s skills are too formidable to overcome such disadvantages.
If you don’t agree, have at it in the comments.
One more thing: Fury can sing, too. After last night’s bout he sang an a cappella version of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” to his wife:
I think a Tyson Fury who is in condition and clear headed, as he was last night, would have crushed Ali, Joe Frazier and even Larry Holmes. He is just as clever and almost as fast as Ali and Holmes, and punches harder with a far longer reach. I don’t see how shorter heavyweights, like Frazier and Mike Tyson, could have contended with the 6′ 9″ Fury. No doubt they would have tried to burrow in, but Fury’s impressive skills would, I think, have kept them at bay and punished them when they came in close. How do you think a 4′ 11″ boxer would have fared against Tyson? That is the same height advantage Fury would have over Iron Mike.
In short, I think Tyson Fury at his best could have beaten any modern heavyweight champion, and maybe any champion of the past, including Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. A controversial view? No doubt. But Marciano was only 5′ 11″, 10 inches shorter than Fury. Louis at 6′ 2″ was seven inches shorter, while his 76″ reach was nine inches less than Fury’s. I think Fury’s skills are too formidable to overcome such disadvantages.
If you don’t agree, have at it in the comments.
One more thing: Fury can sing, too. After last night’s bout he sang an a cappella version of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” to his wife:
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