Over the best part of two decades as a professional, Tyson Fury has racked up a number of notable wins.
Dec 20 2024
Should he exact revenge on Oleksandr Usyk and win their rematch on December 21, that might just slot in at No.1. But what about his 34 victories to date? We take a look at the best three.
Despite his size and long list of inside-distance wins, Fury had never really been known as a heavyweight puncher but he utterly dismantled Deontay Wilder inside seven rounds of their 2020 rematch. Since their draw in Los Angeles 16 months earlier, Fury had replaced trainer Ben Davison with Kronk coach Sugar Hill Steward and promised to channel the energy of the famous Detroit gym by walking Wilder down and stopping him. Many thought it was a mind game, others laughed at the suggestion – but Fury did exactly that to produce the most destructive performance of his career.
Wilder was down from a left hook, right hand to the head in the third and then again in the fifth from a left hook to the body which lifted him off his feet. Then, midway through the seventh, with Wilder pinned against the ropes absorbing punishment, his then-trainer Mark Breland threw in the towel.
If their rematch was all about Fury dominance, their trilogy fight back in Vegas the following year was about breathless up-and-down action. There was little clamour for a third encounter given how easy the rematch had looked for Fury and things looked to be headed in the same direction when Wilder was dropped in the third round again.
But the Alabama puncher turned the fight on its head by flooring Fury twice in the fourth. But not for the first time in his career, up climbed Fury to make the pendulum swing once again, piling more pressure on Wilder. The American was down again in the 10th and, finally, in the 11th when Russell Mora waved it off. A modern-day heavyweight classic – and it was Fury who prevailed.
This remains one of the finest wins registered by any current active fighter. Wladimir Klitschko was unbeaten in 11 years, a run which comprised no fewer than 19 successful world title defences. Fury, just 27 at the time, was a huge underdog as he travelled to Germany in a bid to turn the division on its head by claiming the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles from the long-reigning king.
In the build-up, Fury insisted it would be an easy fight for him, again, very few people believed him. In the end, it essentially was. Despite the occasion, it was a low-key fight with very little action to note. Even so, Fury was systematically racking up the rounds to claim a unanimous decision, despite being deducted a point in the 11th for punches behind the head.
