David Adeleye has a record of 9-0.  Big Whoop.  When I saw him on this card I thought maybe I’d get to see him fight somebody, but no.  He fought some dude that looked like me, fat and balding that is.  His record an uninspiring 9-8. He had lost four of his last five fights.

In July of ’21 I saw him fight another chubby dude (with a 3-9 record) and I berated him here, on this blog  for engaging in fake boxing.  I looked it up and the nine opponents that make up his 9-0 record have a combined record of 50 – 131.

For him it must be like a hobby, beating up old fat men.  I don’t want to see that.  They really need to stop putting this clown on TV until he steps up to fight a real fighter.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the featherweight fight, with the underdog Ball beating up and stopping Isaac Lowe.

And while the main event provided no surprises, (I thought Fury would win by stoppage and he did), it was still entertaining.  That knockout was a thing of beauty, like the Klitschko left that flattened Pulev, one punch, right on the button.

*Boom*

(How many remember that it was the another single uppercut that Povetkin knocked Whyte out with?  Raise your hands.)

Those of you who have read this blog for a while will remember that I have had a problem with Tyson Fury on more than one occasion.  The first time was when people would call him the lineal champ after his big flake-out, while he was “dealing with his issues” and simultaneously denying Klitschko his rematch, twice.

In my mind, Klitschko and Joshua fought for the lineal title, and Joshua earned it, lost it to Ruiz, got it back, then gave it to Usyk.

That’s my alternate universe.

In this tilted world Fury made his comeback by fighting…Tom Schwartz. And was lauded by the media for his ‘bravery’ and such. Blech.

He eventually got around to fighting Wilder and in those fights he did impress.  His remarkable skill set was there for all to see, not to mention an iron chin.  I had to change my mind about him, and even took back some of the crappy things I said about him. 

Then, after the last Wilder fight, some sports-talker brought up that “it was time to think about Fury’s place in the pantheon of greats.”

Bitch, please.

I wrote on this before (See Good, not Great below).  This fight was only his second title defense, and now he is taking about retiring.  His record just is not that impressive.

Last night he was saying “I’m a legend, one of the best boxers in the world, maybe even ever” (paraphrased).  I started to rankle at this, but I realized that this was just a toned-down version of what Ali said about himself and I never minded that. 

Later I thought “maybe he’s right about the ‘legend’ thing.” 

That’s what we all said about Tyson (the original Tyson) – a legendary  boxer, but not an all-time great.  I think we wanted collectively to punish him for his many un-gentlemanly antics.  (Like how we have not put Pete Rose into the hall of fame.) We didn’t want to be seen as putting a stamp of approval on his behavior.  That ice has been melting for Iron Mike, though. People have been forgiving him, and if you do that, you have to compare him to others on the basis of his record, who he fought and how he fared.  And on that basis, he was great indeed.

I’ll concede “legend” for Tyson Fury.  He is devilishly hard to beat.  No-one has done it yet.  His last three fights were impressive, but that’s just it, it’s only three fights.  There are plenty of talented heavyweights out there that he could fight if he wanted to remembered as ‘great’.

I’d like to see him fight Usyk or Joe Joyce for instance.

But now we have to consider this:  Who is to fight for the lineal championship?  I suppose Usyk has to be #1.  Who will be #2? 

Turns out there is no controversy here. Box Rec, Transnational, (Teddy Atlas), the IBO, Ring Magazine all agree, Usyk is #1, Joshua is #2.  So the upcoming rematch will give us the new lineal champ.

If it were up to me Wilder would get to fight Ruiz or Joyce for the WBC belt. That would be fun.

I hope the big lad can make it stick, that he not return, a la Ali, ad nauseum, to the point of embarrassment or worse, personal injury. It would be a very happy ending (and one no doubt destined for a cinematic portrayal) to his hill-and-valley story.