For as long as we've had boxing, we have also had fights "that never were". These are the match ups that for whatever reason fans are just dying to see. It could be because the two boxers are unbeaten, or maybe they have opposing styles and people want to know which style will prevail. Will it be the aggressive front-foot boxer; or the elusive counter-puncher?
Think Marvellous Marvin Haggler versus Sugar Ray Leonard, GGG against Canelo and Hamed v Barrera for highly anticipated fights that actually happened. But for every one of those super fights that took place, there are dozens that never came to fruition.
For our current era we have a fight that when it was first proposed looked for all the world that it would be one of the most amazing heavyweight match ups we'd ever seen.
Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua had boxing fans around the world salivating in anticipation, the two men were both champions, holding four belts between them, both of them having beaten former dominant champion Dr Steelhammer Vladimir Klitshco, and both with perfect unbeaten records. This was set to be the super fight of the ages and with both men hailing from the UK, the biggest fight in British heavyweight history.
The Build Up
It all started so well, Tyson Fury shocked the world after climbing out from his personal pit of hell. The Gypsy King had spiralled into a much-documented descent into the very depths of depression after becoming champion of the world. The six foot nine giant ballooned to over four hundred pounds in weight and found himself at the dark doors of depression, brought there by a sizeable drug and alcohol addiction.
Fury by his own admission was close to death, ready to take his own life until finally he chose to accept the help and support that had always been there.
So the stage was set, Fury had come back in spectacular fashion a few tune up fights got him back up to speed and in his first title fight with the Bronze Bomber Deontay Wilder, he easily won at least nine of the twelve rounds. However after being almost knocked out in the twelfth round, the judges decided that was enough for the fight to be ajudged a draw. In hindsight this just served to sprinkled a much needed dose of drama and excitement into the unfolding story.
Fury came back in the second Wilder fight and emphatically made his case by gaining a TKO in the seventh round and thus setting up the biggest fight the world had ever seen, Fury/AJ was on.
Spoiler Alert
However as is so often the case in these types of circumstances, something or someone comes along to spoil the party and on June 1st 2019 at the Garden Andy Ruiz came and rained on the parade and not only beat, but knocked out Anthony Joshua in the seventh round of their title bout.
What was even more shocking than AJ's defeat, was the fact that Ruiz wasn't even supposed to be in the ring that night. Joshua had been scheduled to fight the WBA number 3 ranked contender, Jarell Miller. Unfortunately Miller had failed three drug tests and so was eventually replaced by the fifth ranked heavyweight, Andy Ruiz.
Redemption Train
However all was not lost, six months later Joshua rematched Ruiz and beat him comprehensively, AJ did exactly what he should have done in the first fight. As Ali once said about his fight with Smoking Joe Frazier, 'pickin-an-a-pokin, pourin water all over his smokin'.
So we were back on the train, AJ was redeemed in many a fan's eye. The first loss was just a blip on his otherwise perfect career, a sincere reminder as to what can happen in the heavyweight division if you take your opponent too lightly. You can get absolutely KTFO'd and now that AJ had this bit of tough love imparted on him, the fighting public got on with anticipating the Fury/AJ fight.
So negotiations for the prizefight started and for a moment it all looked like maybe this time we would get what we deserved, little did we know.
The Bronze Bummer
"NO! They can't let that happen! He's missed his chance!!!"
That sentiment was echoed around the fighting world when Deontay Wilder somehow managed to trigger a rematch clause even though he'd let the six month response time limit expire.
Wilder's camp claimed that the Covid crisis was what stopped them triggering the rematch clause, however fight fans remember it differently. In that second match we saw a beaten man, someone who got so badly drubbed by Fury that his trainer feared for his life and threw the towel in.
Afterwards we saw a string of bizarre social media rants coming from Wilder, insane excuses that nobody outside of his immediate circles didn't laugh out loud at. Wilder started with his walkout suit being too heavy, and ended up blaming a Gypsy curse for his loss.
Everyone knew that he wasn't going to trigger a rematch because despite his bizarre excuses, he knew what the rest of us did, Fury was simply the better man. He was bigger, faster, stronger and far superior in every aspect of their bout. From the first to the last round Fury was utterly dominant, he schooled Wilder, made him look like an amateur, only a madman would want to get back into the ring with the Gypsy King after such a beating.
The plain simple fact is once the dust had settled and he listened to the yes-men who solidified his warped belief that he was somehow robbed that night, Wilder decided to use Covid to get a posthumous extension to the rematch clause and won his case in court. So, even though everyone wanted to see the only fight that made sense at this point, AJ/Fury, we took a collective sigh and said, 'Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait.'
At the end of the day we knew Fury would beat Wilder a third time and of course AJ would beat his mandatory challenger; "Who is it again? Oh yeah, Usyk, the cruiserweight champ. No drama. We'll get our super fight."
"Oh wait."
The Nail In The Coffin?
After AJ suffered the "Ruiz blip", nobody thought he'd do it again. Sure Usyk was an unbeaten cruiserweight, an amateur 350-fight veteran and the champ to boot, but he was so much smaller than AJ. Surely Joshua wouldn't make the same mistake twice?
Erm yes he would, but this time it was worse. At least after the first time we could all agree that Ruiz, although he played a great game and fought an amazing fight the first time, ultimately he was a heavyweight and he got that one heavy punch through and so we saw it as a bit lucky. AJ proved this theory by so easily beating him in the rematch.
This time it was worse because Usyk was so much smaller than AJ that being knocked out (despite the last two rounds) didn't ever seem to be on the cards. No, Usyk simply out boxed him and made him look like a clueless amateur. AJ barely laid a glove on Usyk for the first five rounds, it was embarrassing and after seeing those twelve rounds, there were not many fight fans left on the planet, that thought AJ stood a cat's chance in hell against the Gypsy King.
Trilogy For The Comeback Kid
So for all the reasons above the Fury/AJ fight seems completely dead in the water and will probably go down as a "fights that never was". Forever we'd just be left wondering what would have happened if they had met when they were still both unbeaten. Just like we wonder what would have happened in a Tyson/Lewis or Tyson/Holyfield when Iron Mike was in his prime. Oh well.
But wait, there is still some drama left to unfold from this story. If AJ does come back and beat Usyk in the rematch, then he will have gained a new reputation as a comeback kid.
Think about it, he loses to Ruiz then comes back and does exactly what he needs, then does the same to Usyk. In that scenario if he fights Fury and loses, that sets up one of those great stat match ups. The man who has never lost, versus the man who always wins the second fight.
Maybe I'm clutching at straws here, but you have to admit, if we are going into a second fight after a Fury victory could you honestly say that Fury would definitely win again? Obviously in that scenario it depends how the first fight went, but my guess is it will be incredibly difficult to call.
So the upshot of this all is, it's not all dead yet however if Usyk beats AJ again then that's it, the fight will never happen and we fans will have been robbed by the fates yet again.
This is all without being disrespectful to Usyk, because I'm sure all my fellow aficionados out there will be eyeing Fury/Usyk as potentially the most technically interesting fight in heavyweight history.
One thing's for sure, with Tyson Fury still out there, we will one day soon get a unification fight and whilst I hope it's against Anthony Joshua, I won't be totally disappointed if it is against Olexander Usyk.
For now though, we simply wait and hope.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FIGHT? WILL IT EVER HAPPEN? OR WILL USYK BEAT JOSHUA A SECOND TIME AND THUS KILLING THE FIGHT FOREVER?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Cryptogee