By: Sean Crose

They said both men were past their primes. Sure they had both attained ring glory, but never against each other. It was a bit disappointing that matters took so long, we were told, but at least we were finally getting to see two legends get it on in the ring – albeit past the due date. I’m talking of course about the iconic middleweight title bout that went down in April of 1987 between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard. Funny how Hagler and Leonard, both in their primes, were viewed as past their sell by dates leading up to their fight. Even funnier is how no one now looks at the Hagler-Leonard bout, which Leonard ended up winning by close, controversial decision, as having arrived on the scene a bit late.

The news that former heavyweight titlists – and fellow Brits – Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are finally going to do battle has brought about a similar feeling across the internet, one which argues “Sure this is great, but it’s too bad it didn’t happen sooner.” The truth is that, if Fury-Joshua, which is now officially set to go down before the end of the year, proves to be an excellent fight, no one will care where each man was in his career or on the calendar when the final bell sounds.. No one brings up the ages of Leonard and Hagler when they fought. The same can be said for Leonard’s rematch with Tommy Hearns two years later (which also proved to be an excellent and controversial fight). Good fights overpower a lot of minutiae.

None of this means, of course, that this bout might well have gone down years ago when each man was younger and sharper. Sometimes, though, you take what you can get if that something is still worth appreciating. The reality is that if Leonard hadn’t been retired for years before facing Hagler and Hagler hadn’t emerged from two brutal wars of attrition (with Hearns and John “The Beast” Mugabi respectively) before facing Leonard, then their 1987 battle may have looked differently – or not. Boxing is a sport loaded with “what ifs?” What if Ali hadn’t been stripped of his belts? What if a younger Louis had faced Marciano? What if Floyd and Manny had managed to get it on in 2010 instead of 2015?

We don’t know the answers to those questions, and although they’re enticing, such questions usually fade into thin air. Why? Because big fights epitomize the appeal of boxing, which is simply finding out who the best of two fighters is. And let’s face it, you’re curious as to who the better of the two men is in this instance. If you weren’t you likely wouldn’t be reading this column. Simply put, Fury-Joshua has the makings of a good fight. Both fighters are towering physical specimens with power to burn. Each fighter can also switch styles to adapt to a given opponent. Joshua defeated Ruiz in their second fight by outboxing his man. Fury defeated Deontay Wilder in their second fight by outhitting his man.

There’s a caveat to all this, however, and that’s the fact that Joshua is going to have a tune up fight against the widely unknown Kristian Prenga this July in Saudi Arabia. It’s understandable that Joshua would take a tuneup at this point in his career. He survived a serious automobile accident this past winter, one that cost two people their lives. Again, it’s understandable the man would want a rematch before facing Fury. Supposedly easy fights can go south, though. Larry Holmes was going to face Gerry Cooney in a megabout when he almost got knocked out by Renaldo Snipes. Holmes got off the mat and went on to beat Snipes and (later) Cooney. Still the Snipes fight ended up being too close for comfort.

A far more recent close call occurred a few years ago when Fury was shockingly dropped by MMA star and boxing novice Francis Ngannou. Like Holmes, Fury got up and managed to win the fight (somewhat controversially) but for a man hoping to face Olyksandr Usyk, it was not a good night for the fighter known as The Gypsy King. With that being said it is highly unlikely that Joshua will lose to Prenga this summer. Joshua is a serious man, after all, and there’s simply too much at stake here. Yet it all goes to show just how iffy the sport of boxing can be. Fury and Joshua were said to be on the verge of squaring off back in 2021 – but a judge ruled that Fury had to face Deontay Wilder instead. And while Fury won, Joshua ended up losing to Oleksandr Usyk before getting to face Fury in the ring.

Now it appears the two men will finally square off. It may not carry the weight a Fury-Joshua bout may have years ago – but as they say, better late than never.