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By: Sean Crose
Tyson Fury’s trilogy of heavyweight title bouts with Deontay Wilder was one for the ages. Some people may say it was a trilogy fought between second rate heavyweight champions. Those people would be wrong. Aside from Oleksandr Usyk, Fury was the greatest heavyweight titlist since Lennox Lewis (the Klitschkos were great, but not Fury great).
As for Wilder, this writer sees him as the hardest hitting fighter ever (and he knows a bit about boxing history). The fact the man put the exceedingly skilled Fury on his back numerous times tells you all you need to know. Both Fury and Wilder are currently retired, but there’s word Wilder may be coming back. Fury thinks it’s a bad idea.
“Since that trilogy we had,” said Fury, “we took a lot of years out of each other’s lives. That war we had which ended in the 11th round by knockout, that takes a lot out of your tank and you don’t recover from fights like that. Between mine and Wilder’s trilogy, there was 10 knockdowns.”
Fury, who was last seen in the ring losing his second fight in a row to Usyk, believes too much was taken out of Wilder (and perhaps himself, too) during their three ring battles for it to make sense for Wilder to resume fighting.
“It takes a lot out of a fighter,” Fury continued, “and even when he’s come back and had a couple of fights since against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, he’s only a shadow of his former glory. The only thing that’s the same about Deontay is his name. I’d like to see him retire for sure before he does damage to himself.”
As Fury himself knows, however, retirement is a tough challenge for an aging fighter of note. Fury, after all, has retired on at least two occasions. He was (originally at least) dealing with issues that went beyond physical wear and tear the first time around. In other words, he wasn’t like George Foreman who came back well past his prime to shock the world. Yet there was only one George Foreman. Tying to follow in those career footsteps can be a dangerous endeavor. Boxing, after all, can do some some serious harm….and worse.
Still, athletes – and boxers in particular – can have a difficult time calling it quits once and for all. And each athlete has to make his or her own decisions.
