That’s a bad title. Only one of the subjects of the title has disgraced himself, again and again, over the last 18 months.
Only one of the subjects has consistently lied and/or been to the Clay Travis School of Moving the Goalposts.
Only one has unilaterally robbed his sport of its biggest event since 2015, eschewing the trend set by the rest of the sport in the calendar year 2023.
It’s a bad title.
It should actually read: Tyson Fury is a Disgrace.
If Ariel Helwani’s report that “Tyson Fury x Francis Ngannou is expected to be announced very soon” is true, and his reports usually are, then Tyson Fury has bucked the recent trend in boxing and led the heavyweight division down a garden path yet again. Instead of fighting a real fight against an opponent that everyone wants to see, he’s just going to engage in some more bullshit against a non-competitive opponent.
Fury talks consistently about being a throwback fighter who doesn’t give a bollocks who he fights.
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
He’ll take all comers, he bellows, as he beats the rotting and damaged Derek Chisora one last time.
Usyk is only a cheeky little middleweight who he’d eat for lunch, he hollers while chasing the similarly damaged Dillian Whyte down the street, simultaneously running from the most legitimate challenger in the decision.
He talks about his legacy as the only man other than Muhammad Ali to do this or to do that, while he has only one “great” name on his resume: 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko. I would go so far as to say that he also only has two “good” wins on his resume: Deontay Wilder.
The rest, given when he fought them, were cannon fodder.
He doesn’t give a stuff about legacy. He’s just good at talking (and singing). At a time when boxing is healing its relationship with the fans, Tyson Fury is content to remain a bad boyfriend. He gaslights and lies, he never does what he says he’ll do. In the end he’s always going to let you down.
Leave him, girl.
Francis Ngannou, on the other hand, has only enhanced his legacy.
Ngannou left the UFC in January of 2023, so often a death knell for fighters, especially when the organisation takes it personally as they did with Francis.
Dana White, UFC Czar, shat on Francis on the way out and accused him of ducking the biggest fight with Jon Jones.
When Francis got an extraordinary deal from the PFL, Dana shat on that too.
There have been very few more prolific criers over spilt milk than Dana White. Hope his wife doesn’t cry too much though. We’ve seen how that ends.
But now Francis seems to have what looked impossible. He has lined up an extraordinarily lucrative fight with Tyson Fury, the best heavyweight on the planet. He will finally get what he wanted: a meaningful piece of an event’s upside, taking place on his own terms, and an almost certain 8 figure purse.
In fact, the UFC was so perturbed by Helwani’s report that they went right into their favourite playbook whenever something they don’t like happens and announced Jon Jones v Stipe Miocic less than three hours later.
Usually, they reserve this move for when another accusation against Conor McGregor pops up.
So, contrary to the belief of a segment of MMA fandom, where Ngannou was accused of “fumbling the bag”, Francis Ngannou is blazing a trail for UFC fighters with big enough names to leave the UFC. He’s telling them it’s possible to do their own thing and make real money in the process.
He is no disgrace.
So, I say again: I’ve given my own article a bad title. It should read “Tyson Fury is a Disgrace”.
Boxing is in a rare position in 2023. Since Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis fought earlier this year, the best have been fighting the best. This year we have had, or are due to have: Davis v Garcia, Lomachenko v Haney, Lopez v Taylor, Spence v Crawford, Inoue v Fulton and probably some others that I have missed.
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder exchange punches during their WBC Heavyweight Championship title fight. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
It could have, nay, should have, been topped off by Usyk v Fury.
They are the only two men who hold belts. They have been due to fight countless times, but then Fury has moved the goalposts to the point where the fight became impossible to make and Usyk was forced eventually to fight one of his mandatories in Daniel Dubois.
Why Daniel Dubois is a mandatory and not Tyson Fury is beyond me.
How the WBC hasn’t mandated a Fury v Usyk fight in order for Fury to keep his belt is even farther beyond me.
Actually, it isn’t.
Only Michael Rubin is a more prolific starfucker than the WBC.
I wrote when the Usyk fight fell through for the umpteenth time that Tyson Fury had ducked Oleksandr Usyk and that he was damaging his legacy. Well, the damage is now done and irreparable.
Even if they fight, chances are one or both will be on the backside of their careers and Tyson Fury will have robbed boxing of what could have been one of the greatest heavyweight fights since the golden era.
That era that Fury says he’s a throwback to.
That era that Tyson Fury actually would have been eaten alive by real sharks. Not pantomime ones.
Tyson Fury is a Disgrace.
That’s better.
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