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His Excellency Turki Alalshikh confirmed today that former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will still have the option to fight Anthony Joshua next if he loses his December 21st rematch with WBA/WBC/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh.
The Victor Doesn’t Take All
The old saying, ‘To the victor go the spoils,’ doesn’t apply here with the Fury vs. Usyk rematch. Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) will have the option to fight Joshua if he chooses.
That would tarnish the fight significantly, sending a twice-beaten [three-times if you count Francis Ngannou as a loss] Fury into a match against Joshua. Fury would be a sorry sight in that case, and I can’t imagine him wanting to continue.
“If Usyk wins [against Fury on December 21st], he deserves to choose big fights, and this will be his fight,” said Turki Alalshikh to the Stomping Ground YouTube channel when asked if Tyson Fury will still get the Anthony Joshua fight next if he loses to Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st.
Turki doesn’t say what “big fights” Usyk would deserve to get if he beats Fury a second time. He leaves that part open. Does he mean Usyk can take the trilogy match against Joshua fight right away?
“If he [Usyk] chooses Joshua and Joshua accepts, we want to do this fight,” said Turki. “At the same time, we want to see Tyson and Joshua. Let’s see what Tyson on this night [December 21st] will do and what will be the situation after the fight. Maybe he’ll want to continue. Maybe he’ll want to retire. You don’t know.
“We cannot control the fighter in his personal life. If he still wants to fight and gives us on December 21st a great fight, for sure we want to see him against Joshua. This will be huge for the fans and for boxing.”
If Fury again to Usyk, what’s the point of him fighting Joshua? It would be wretched by that point. Fury is already filthy rich, with an estimated net worth of $140 million. It would be over $200+ million after he faces Usyk in December, and he wouldn’t need to continue fighting to get the final payday against Joshua.
What would look bad is if Joshua loses his fight against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on September 21st. If Joshua chooses to fight a beaten Fury, it would remove any value in a fight between them.
However, Joshua probably will have too much pride to walk away from a defeat against the 26-year-old young gun Dubois to fight Fury. He’ll at least try to avenge the loss rather than walk away from the encounter and take the fight with Fury for greed purposes.
“Tyson is one of the greatest fighters of this generation. He has everything,” said Turki when asked if Fury is still as motivated now than he ever was in the past? “If he wants to focus and do the job, a lot of times he delivered the job. For that, yes. It depends on his health condition, about himself, if he wants to do it or not.”
Is Fury Truly ‘Great’?
I don’t buy that Fury is one of the “greatest fighters of this generation” bit because his best wins during the last nine years of his career were against these fighters:
– Wladimir Klitschko: 39-years-old
– Deontay Wilder: Need I say anything?
– Dillian Whyte: British journeyman
– Dereck Chisora: See above
Those guys don’t make Fury the best of this generation in my book or even in the top five. He beat a bunch of has-beens and British journeymen. Unless we lower the bar for what it means to be a “generational great,” Fury doesn’t get anywhere near that level with his wins over that motley crew.
Fury can’t still be motivated like before because he showed that in his last two fights by coming into them chubby, looking like he’d not trained hard.
“The last time I saw him in London, he said if he didn’t show it in Riyadh Season, he’s retiring,” said Turki.
I want to think Fury will retire if he loses to Usyk on December 21st, but I get the feeling that if His Excellency waves $100 million under his snout, he’ll return for the Joshua fight in a hot second.
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