By: Sean Crose
It’s pretty much common knowledge now that the upcoming mega fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will go down well past the sell-by date. Still it’s going to be a contest between two huge men who have great experience, along with great skill and some pretty serious punching power. In other words it’s going to be a fight worth seeing, despite how lacking in relevance that may well be. Let’s face it, this looks like a fun matchup. It really does. Not only that, it looks like a close matchup. I’m going to give the edge to Joshua but honestly a Fury victory certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
So yes while many people, myself included, are not exactly thrilled by the way things have turned out, Joshua-Fury may likely turn out to be a pretty good fight to watch. Which means we shouldn’t be paying attention to promoters or behind the scenes players anymore, we should be focused on the fighters – their training, their mindsets, their overall preparation. Both these guys are going to be at their aging best come fight night. Neither man wants to lose this one. This is a battle that’s exceedingly important for each fighter. Joshua and Fury will slip in between the ropes this December ready or at least willing to put on the performance of a lifetime.
The one thing we shouldn’t be thinking about now is Dana White or Eddie Hearn or to Turki Al Sheik . So much the behind the scenes drama has already gone down that it is ridiculous to allow it to taint anymore of the pre-fight excitement. This fight is indeed happening, provided some nightmare scenario doesn’t occur. That means that it’s time for Dana, Eddie, Turki or whoever else is operating in the shadows to just relax and let the fight run its course. This sort of thing should be fun, after all, not tedious. Having promoters in the spotlight at this point makes things tedious.
Both fighters are multifaceted. They can hit. They can be aggressive. They can also be slick and frustrating. Fury has long known how to outfox an opponent and Joshua certainly proved he could do just the same when he fought Andy Ruiz for the second time. Obviously there’s power. Both these guys have hit the canvas on numerous occasions. Add that to the curiosity factor leading up to this battle. There’s also the question of Fury’s weight. The man tends to go up and down depending on who his opponent is. It’ll be interesting to see how he enters the ring in a few months.
Serious fight fans don’t worry about Eddie Hearn’s power or Dana White’s footwork. They could care less about each man’s ability to dominate a ring. Because neither man fights. They set up fights. Fights like Joshua Fury, which – now that it’s made – should be a sole focus of the boxing world. The truth is that this fight might actually be fun. Indeed there’s a high probability of that happening. So Turki, Eddie and Dana and whoever else is taking up the oxygen in the room should just let the fans have their way this point.
Again this fight is a little late in happening. But since it is in fact happening it’s time for everyone who cares about this sort of event to start following the right things rather than the distractions. No one will think about the promotion should this fight turn out to be a barn burner. People will think about the action in the ring and the potential future of each man. What they won’t be talking about, at least not much, is the behind the scenes players.
