Boxing commentator Jim Lampley breaks down some of his thoughts on WBC heavyweight Tyson Fury and where he stands in boxing lore. Lampley says Fury has all the attributes to give anyone a run for their money in this history of boxing, and doesn’t even necessarily believe other all time greats like Muhammad Ali or Lennox Lewis could beat him.
Lampley on how he views Fury from a historical perspective
“Look at Tyson Fury. Tell me he’s not an unbeaten and unbeatable heavyweight champion at this point on this planet…in history, okay. You think Marciano would have a chance against him? You think Jack Dempsey would have a chance against him? These are great, great fighters. They would look like flies in there against Tyson Fury.
“Ali and Lennox Lewis are the two fighters whom most of the intelligent critics I’ve spoken to ultimately settle on ‘well, Lennox would have the power and Ali would have the instincts and the defensive skills’ and stuff like that. Yeah, I’d agree, those would be interesting fights.
“But would you get me to say there’s no way Tyson Fury could beat Muhammad Ali or Lennox Lewis? I’m not in that bag. He would have a chance and against anybody who ever lived.”
On how Usyk might fare against Fury
“That’s a great matchup, and you might say if there’s anybody that can bother Fury it’s a much smaller, skilled counterpuncher. So Usyk is a much smaller, very skilled counterpuncher, he’ll be quicker than Tyson, he might be able to dart in and out. He’ll employ side-to-side movement, make himself a tougher target than Tyson has faced with the come-forward Deontay Wilder.
“There are lots of possibilities in that fight and I’m not totally shocked if Usyk gets a win over him. But that’s going to come down to scoring. You know he’s not gonna knock him out. That’s going to be judges picking rounds to give to Usyk and it will be an argument in their minds because Tyson will lander the bigger shots.”