In terms of pure boxing skill where does Fury rank

[MoneyKasha]

in terms of all time HW boxing...

[PRINCEKOOL]

You really have to explain your thread in more detail.

Who are we ranking him against?

Note: I understand now, it is all these abbreviations 'I did not catch it straight away'. I am not going to give a answer in the thread because, well what is the point? Tyson Fury is undefeated, so people will feel justified to state that he is? 'The most complete heavyweight fighter of all-time'.

[-Kev-]

He’s clearly very skilled. Tyson Fury, due to his size to skill ratio, might be the best fantasy fighter in history.

Let’s say a fighter is better than him, meaning more skilled. Good, now that fighter has to overcome the size and height advantage. And Fury isn’t some come forward bum. He’s a very skilled tactician, he’s big, he’s quick, he’s tall, has long reach, power, and he can fight dirty.

I don’t know how the heck would the relatively smaller (than him) HW’s like Ali, Foreman, Marciano, Wlad, Vitali, Holyfield, Tyson can get him other than just going for broke and trying to KO him and not box him. I don’t see how he can be “outboxed”.

And yes, I recall his subpar performances vs journeymen. Problem with looking at those fights as some kind of evidence of who could beat him is that Fury seems to train based on his opponents level. If he is preparing to fight a journeyman, he lacks motivation and looks largely like crap. When he knows he is fighting a top guy, he seems to train seriously. That has to be taken into consideration.

Fury is a very good fighter and I will go as far as to say that if he were to fight every HOF heavyweight in boxing history, i’m not going to say he would retire undefeated, but i’ll say he would end up with a pretty good W/L record. I’m going to say Tyson Fury, just based on his talent and size, has a good chance at beating any HW in history. He is part of an era that has the biggest and tallest HW’s dominating the top 5 and he is the best of the bunch. If he beats AJ, he would have wins over all the top “big men” of his era.

[Earl-Hickey]

He's the best fighter head to head in history

[MartialMind]

He’s clearly very skilled. Tyson Fury, due to his size to skill ratio, might be the best fantasy fighter in history.

Let’s say a fighter is better than him, meaning more skilled. Good, now that fighter has to overcome the size and height advantage. And Fury isn’t some come forward bum. He’s a very skilled tactician, he’s big, he’s quick, he’s tall, has long reach, power, and he can fight dirty.

I don’t know how the heck would the relatively smaller (than him) HW’s like Ali, Foreman, Marciano, Wlad, Vitali, Holyfield, Tyson can get him other than just going for broke and trying to KO him and not box him. I don’t see how he can be “outboxed”.

And yes, I recall his subpar performances vs journeymen. Problem with looking at those fights as some kind of evidence of who could beat him is that Fury seems to train based on his opponents level. If he is preparing to fight a journeyman, he lacks motivation and looks largely like crap. When he knows he is fighting a top guy, he seems to train seriously. That has to be taken into consideration.

Fury is a very good fighter and I will go as far as to say that if he were to fight every HOF heavyweight in boxing history, i’m not going to say he would retire undefeated, but i’ll say he would end up with a pretty good W/L record. I’m going to say Tyson Fury, just based on his talent and size, has a good chance at beating any HW in history. He is part of an era that has the biggest and tallest HW’s dominating the top 5 and he is the best of the bunch. If he beats AJ, he would have wins over all the top “big men” of his era.

Not that he's a journey man of course but Wilder almost beat him in their first match-up and even without that almost KO it was going the full distance.

It's not hard to see prime Ali doing better than Wilder did in that first fight.

[edgarg]

in terms of all time HW boxing...

You have to consider Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, Jersey Joe, Ezzard Charles, Lennox Lewis The Klitcscho Bros all VERY high on the scale of both skill and I.Q. and so far- easily surpassing a comparative newcomer like Fury. A peak Mike Tyson had skills and ability that have not yet been equalled-a completely new kind of heavyweight boxer.

Billy Conn, Harold Johnson and Archie Moore, although predominantly Light-heavies had great success at the highest heavyweight levels through their skills and boxing I.Qs..

And I'd like to add that the same as Ali, who didn't use haed movement except to pull straight back, Fury doesn't use head movement at all as part of his skills .
I recall ALL the experts talking about Ali, debating on how good he was. They all concluded that his success was mainly due to his exceptional speed for a heavyweight, and his footwork, but that his lacking in fundamentals -like pulling straight back instead of mixing up some head movement, would get him into trouble, when he got older and his reflexes had slowed down. AND, that's exactly what happened. He only had longevity because he had tremendous determination and belief in himself, as well as the ability to absorb tremendous punishment.

As for Fury, if he were fighting a peak Vitaly Klitschko, I'd bet on Klitschko to win on points or stoppage.. Don't forget K was fighting against better opposition, and hardly ever lost a round even as an old man.

[TMLT87]

I dont know, hard to say. But he is obviously well above average in technical ability and fight IQ, and when you combine that with his size he is probably one of the more formidable head to head HWs in history. Guys of his size just dont move and box like he does normally.

[Nash out]

I think he's the most skilled HW in history.

[-Kev-]

Not that he's a journey man of course but Wilder almost beat him in their first match-up and even without that almost KO it was going the full distance.

It's not hard to see prime Ali doing better than Wilder did in that first fight.

Ali in his prime was actually huge, physically. No one had seen anything like it at the time. Such an athletic, big boxer. Big boxers were slow. He had such a big impact at the time because not only was he bigger and taller than most HW's, but he was also more skilled, faster, and moved better than them. 6'3" 215lb, 78" reach Muhammad Ali rarely had any physical equal, who was good, until he met George Foreman, who was also 6'3", same reach and slight heavier than Ali, more powerful, but not as fast. Ali won, but it was a tough fight on him physically.

6'9", 260lb Tyson Fury with an 85" reach, really good movement, good speed, good power, is enjoying the same thing right now that Ali was enjoying in the past: Being the biggest man on campus while also being the most athletic of the bunch, and also being the most skilled.

And yes, Wilder dropped Fury, but Wilder is a really tall guy himself, really athletic, very powerful and Wilder has dropped every fighter he has faced. All 42 fighters Wilder has faced, have been dropped or stopped or waived off by the ref or corner.

There is also no one on Ali's resume who can say was as tall, as big, as talented and as athletic as Tyson Fury (all of those attributes put together).

Don't get me wrong, I like Ali way more than Fury. Ali has the better career, and speaking only about what they did in their eras, Ali did more in his career in HIS era than Tyson Fury has done in his. Ali is great than Fury, career-wise. But i'm not going to sit here and be delusional. Just like Ali being too tall and too big for the HW's that came before him, Tyson Fury enjoys the same advantage today over the past HW's (and even the current big HW's).

[Earl-Hickey]

Not that he's a journey man of course but Wilder almost beat him in their first match-up and even without that almost KO it was going the full distance.

It's not hard to see prime Ali doing better than Wilder did in that first fight.

In that Fight fury had been morbidly obese, alcoholic and on coke for THREE YEARS just six months prior

If prime Ali did that and then fought Wilder he WOULD be KO'd