Fury Vs Wilder Or Fury Vs Joshua?

In the last 48 hours, we have had announcements come from two of boxing’s World Heavyweight Champions, in regards to who their next opponents will be. The contractual obligation of a mandatory rematch will see Deontay Wilder get a third chance at defeating the new WBC Heavyweight Champion – Tyson Fury on July 18th in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the re-crowned English boxing champion and holder of the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight straps – Anthony Joshua; will defend his heavyweight titles against Bulgarian mandatory challenger in Kubrat Pulev, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20th. Joshua was initially supposed to fight Pulev at Cardiff Stadium in October of 2017, but the Bulgarian withdrew from the match after suffering a shoulder injury in sparring. It will be Joshua’s first fight in England since September of 2018. AJ dropped the heavyweight titles to Andy Ruiz Jr in dramatic fashion back in June of 2019, only to regain it the belts in December by unanimous decision victory over Ruiz in Saudi Arabia.

The Road to Title Unification

The majority of boxing fans around the world have been hopeful that at some point down the line, there would be a heavyweight super fight, which would unify all 5 of the major boxing titles, along with the historical lineal heavyweight championship. However, we have seen a multiplicity of issues that have seen the potential of a unification title fight fall by the wayside.

If style makes fights, Fury has to be the favorite.

Although we are still one or two fights away from getting the dream match the boxing world wants to see. It is always a good exercise to price each fighter against the opponent in question. When you break down the nuts and bolts of each fight. It becomes abundantly clear that Tyson Fury would probably be the favorite on the odds against both opponents. We’ve already seen what Fury has been able to do against Deontay Wilder on two different occasions. Based on the offshore numbers, the books have been convinced from his performance in both fights, and Fury is now listed as a -260 favorite against Wilder for the third fight on July 18th, as opposed to the underdog odds he was listed at in the lead up to their first rematch.

Fury vs. Joshua; There is no question that this would be an epic match-up between two of the UK’s greatest boxing champions. The stylistics matchup between Fury and Joshua is much different than Fury vs Wilder. After seeing what Fury was able to do to Wilder in the second fight, and adding in the fact that we saw Joshua get dropped by a heavy-handed Andy Ruiz, JR. You have to give the advantage, as far as punching power goes – to Fury. When it comes to technique, I think Joshua is the only fighter that can even hold a candle to Tyson Fury’s boxing ability. Fury seemed unbothered by the punching power of Wilder in their second fight, which was a shocking thing to see, as the rest of the heavyweight boxing world has feared the punching power of Wilder for the better part of 5 years. Suddenly, with Fury’s performance over Wilder. He becomes the biggest knockout threat of the division, and if Fury was able to get on the inside against a shorter, and lighter Anthony Joshua – it may be the same result as the first AJ vs Ruiz fight. Based on the hypothetical fight odds that can be found on the offshore markets, Fury is listed as a -150 to -200 favorite against Anthony Joshua.

I think this is a fair price, considering that, without question, Joshua is a much more technically sound boxer than Deontay Wilder. However, there is little to no chance in my mind that Joshua would be able to drop Fury, as he may be one of the biggest men he has ever fought in his career. The size advantage, the punching power, and the overall big fight experience have to favor Fury. At best, Joshua may be on the same level technically as Tyson Fury, but not better. The only real advantage I could give Joshua in this matchup would be his overall fitness level. Although, there have been questions concerning Joshua’s fitness in the aftermath of the Ruiz loss. If I were to be backing Joshua, I would need more than just a chiselled body to be confident in him when facing Tyson Fury.

When it’s all said and done, I think Fury being a favorite against both Wilder and Joshua is proper pricing and I wouldn’t hesitate to back the Gypsy King in the inevitable unification fight against Joshua. Which hopefully is sooner, rather than later.