10 greatest moments from an unforgettable heavyweight decade
To think of how far the heavyweight division has advanced during the past decade is to look back on how Tyson Fury traveled back and forth from his November 2015 title shot versus Wladimir Klitschko at Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Call it the “Fury Ferry,” as the underdog heavyweight title challenger to Wladimir Klitschko – who reigned as champion with only one interruption since 2000 – opted to ferry from his home near Manchester, England, with wife, Paris, to Belgium, where the two of them drove the rest of the way to Dusseldorf.
Ferry had previously sought to play head games with the stoic Klitschko, dressing as Batman at one news conference, but then making Klitschko look the fool in the ring.
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“Not a great fight, but stunning how quickly and easily the long Klitschko era came to an end,” said veteran sports journalist Martin Rogers, who was ringside. “Fury was in control like a champion would be, even though he was the challenger. Too big, too strong, too awkward. Klitschko turned old overnight and looked frozen. And even though the scorecards were separated by three, five and three points, that seemed generous to Klitschko.”
On the way home, with Rogers awaiting to meet the couple for an interview at the Belgian ferry port of Zeebrugge, the Furys mistakenly drove to a port 44 kilometers away at Ostend, forcing the new champion to sit there like any other chap, waiting in a dismal port for the next homeward-bound ferry.
With that, a new dawn to the sport’s glamour division was breaking, one that reaches its latest chapter Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when Fury, 36, seeks to gain revenge on the unbeaten champion Oleksandr Usyk, 37, he lost to by split-decision in May.
Given the age of the men, the mileage they’ve accumulated – Fury has compiled 242 pro rounds, and Usyk will eclipse 200 rounds if this rematch goes the distance – and the fading of their peers Antony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz, perhaps Saturday is going to represent a major page-turning moment.
Fury has admitted this may be it for both he and Usyk.
This generation of heavyweights have given us some remarkable action, rekindling significant interest in the sport and reminding of the historic heavyweight clashes of the past as each involved man has been forced to reveal the depth of their fighting heart, to go places only the legends dared.
It deserves an appreciation, a look back at the 10 best moments of this journey that has taken us from Fury’s removal of Klitschko to Fury’s pursuit of revenge.
10. Deontay Wilder’s thunderous right hand: This isn’t a moment as much as it’s a replay. Ten months before Fury removed Klitschko from the belts, the Olympic bronze medalist from Alabama deposed another antagonist from the division, defeating promoter Don King’s then-heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne by decision to ignite a stretch of seven consecutive knockouts/stoppages, including a first-round KO of Stiverne in their 2017 rematch and a three-knockdown stoppage of Cuba’s Luis Ortiz in March 2018.
9. The face of boxing (for three years): Fury’s slip from the Klitschko victory into the abyss of depression and drug, alcohol and food addiction freed up the belts for others, and one was snapped up by the underqualified Charles Martin, who was then forced to meet the truth of the highly promising and unbeaten 2012 gold medalist Anthony Joshua of the U.K.
Then 26, Joshua fulfilled all the expectations by battering Martin in April 2016 with right hands and knocking out the American in two rounds to become the IBF champion, adding the WBO and WBA belts along the way.
8. Usyk doubles down on Joshua: Styles make fights, and Usyk’s intellect and athleticism confounded Joshua in their consecutive meetings within an 11-month span in 2021 and 2022. Three of the six scorecards turned in for those two fights were 115-113, illustrating Usyk’s next-level calculations as he navigates the 12 rounds. Despite giving up three inches of height and four inches of reach, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion swept the series en route to his own undisputed standing in the division.
7. Heavy suit, heavy legs, heavy hands: Following their amazing 2018 draw in Los Angeles, Fury and Wilder gave us one of the final major live sporting events before COVID struck. The event was preceded by unforgettable ring walks – Fury’s by carriage dressed as a king while Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” played and champion Wilder striding in on a heavy metal garb he later blamed for wearing him down once the fight started.
Fury, perhaps in an omen to what we can expect Saturday, completely solved Wilder the second time around and knocked him down twice before finishing him with a closing barrage that led to Wilder’s assistant trainer, Mark Breland, throwing in the towel in the seventh.
6. Dynamite destruction: Joshua seemed to have regained the mojo lost in the Usyk defeats by knocking out former UFC champion Francis Ngannou and former Fury opponent Otto Wallin, and his September date with newly appointed IBF champion Daniel Dubois looked like a step toward either a long-awaited showdown with Fury or a trilogy match with Usyk. Instead, Dubois, 27, unleashed a hellish wrath of power punches, knocking down Joshua four times and ending him in the fifth round.
Doing so at Wembley Stadium gave it the feel of a new era, but Dubois still has work to do – a Feb. 22 defense against former WBO champion Joseph Parker along with dealing with Saturday’s winner – to punctuate his claim.
5. All the belts and all the smoke: Usyk’s marvelous rally from a scorecards deficit to batter and knock down Fury in the ninth round of their May 18 undisputed classic in Saudi Arabia created what many still view as the fight of the year.
Fury has expressed regret over being too lighthearted in the lead-in and during the bout, and Usyk displayed how resilient and diabolical he is at all times, conquering the obstacles to effectively weaken and tire Fury, who still has to prove he has what it takes to last 12 rounds with his superbly fit opponent and three-belt champion.
4. The unforgettable fire: Literally everything about the 2017 Joshua-Klitschko title fight in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium was magical. A young lion seeking to prove himself. The old champion huddling with his former-champion brother to study every move of Joshua’s public workout. Klitschko’s time-honored entry followed by Joshua’s white-robed walk colored by a fire-lettered A.J.
Ancient journalists gave it their seal of approval as an all-time great after Joshua and Klitschko came back from knockdowns and reached the championship rounds, when a gasping Joshua drew from his waning reservoir of energy to finish Klitschko in the thrilling 11th. A remarkable night, a spectacular fight.
3. Best of the best: The close of the Fury-Wilder trilogy on Oct. 9, 2021, was the fitting conclusion all had hoped for. Wilder came in sullen and determined after losing for the first time, and he shrugged off a third-round knockdown punch to twice deck Fury in the fourth. The high stakes of the match and the pride of both men were so evident as the battle raged into the championship rounds. Perhaps the most staggering fact of the dramatic play was that their three bouts featured a combined nine knockdowns. Fury took a close lead on the scorecards into the 10th round and knocked down Wilder again, and the power-punching former champion finally caved due to a crushing barrage in the 11th, leaving the double-black-eyed Fury as the redemptive champion – both of the series and the world.
2. No one saw that coming: A replacement opponent known for being out of shape. A U.S. debut and coronation. A formality. That’s the way Joshua’s 2019 title defense against Andy Ruiz Jr. was supposed to go. What no one was counting on was the vulnerability of Joshua’s chin to be exposed by the thunderous puncher Ruiz. After sending Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn an instant message on social media following the positive drug test and withdrawal of Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, Ruiz dedicated himself to a rugged training camp under Manny Robles in Norwalk, Calif., and responded to as third-round knockdown by dropping Joshua seconds later as the echoes of Madison Square Garden erupted. In a sport fraught with careful matchmaking and minimal upsets, the tension was gripping. Joshua couldn’t find his way away from Ruiz’s potent right hands in the seventh, getting knocked down twice more, prompting referee Michael Griffin to wave the fight over. The flabby Ruiz jumped up and down in the ring’s center, giving a barrel hug to Robles and bringing three heavyweight belts back to his hometown of Imperial, Calif., for a parade before turning the belts back to Joshua
six months later in an evasive performance that marked the major debut of the heavyweights in Saudi Arabia.
- He’s up? No man is supposed to be built to withstand the full cannon power of Wilder’s uncorked right hand, so when Wilder let it fly upon Fury with unabandoned ferocity in the 12th round of their first fight in Los Angeles in 2018, the night should have been over. Wilder thought it was, stepping into a celebratory shimmy as Fury was out flat on his back. But then Fury’s eyes opened, and he unbelievably started to rise while listening to referee Jack Reiss’ count. Up before 10, he followed Reiss’ instructions to prove he was alert and then survived the round’s remaining seconds to send the fight to the scorecards. The ensuing draw ensured there would be more action to come, and as we’ve seen from the elite heavyweights over the past decade, it’s been a smashing success.
