Fury begins comeback against journeyman
Boxing’s flagship division, currently riding a purple patch the likes of which have not been seen since the early 2000s, is about to get even hotter with this weekend’s return of Tyson Fury.
Fury will meet Albania’s Sefer Seferi in Manchester on Saturday in a fight billed as “The Real Heavyweight Champion of the World.”
It is a reference to how the belts accrued by Anthony Joshua were done so during Fury’s absence. And while Deontay Wilder’s hold on the WBC crown pre-dates both Fury’s and Joshua’s reigns, he holds no claim to the “linear” championship.
The linear distinction refers to a title history that can be traced back to the beginning of a weight class, or at least to the last time there was an undisputed champion. To some, it is the only title that matters in boxing, and it is certainly a useful distinction amid the sport’s many convoluted championship variants.
Fury no longer holds any physical belts but he is being welcomed back as the “real champion”, a distinction he earned by beating the previous “real champion”, Wladimir Klitschko.
But is it still fair, or even accurate, to refer to Fury as such?
True, Fury has never lost, and traditionalists will insist the only way a championship should change hands is inside the ring. But he has been out of that ring for more than two and a half years, has publicly announced his retirement more than once, and has served a suspension for failing a drugs test.
While he was gone, the division moved on. Joshua is now the consensus pick as top dog at heavyweight, even if it can be argued that this distinction was earned by finishing off Fury’s leftovers in Klitschko — a man who, let’s not forget, was beaten clearly by Fury but gave Joshua a very torrid fight.
But for much of Fury’s hiatus, it was unclear if he would ever box again, and it would not be fair to expect the division and its championships to be kept on hold. If succession was defined strictly by wins and losses, then Fury’s own claims would be invalidated by Lennox Lewis. True, Lewis retired as reigning champion in 2004, but he didn’t lose the title in the ring!
For me, the length of Fury’s absence and his own retirement announcements relegate him to “ex-champ” status.
But now he is back, and if he can regain his old form then his road to reclaiming the title will be exciting to witness.
Such excitement may not be evident on Saturday night, though. Fury meets an obscure Albanian cruiserweight called Seferi — a man I’d never even heard of before this match was announced — and will likely make short, easy work of it.
And that’s fine. Nobody expects a competitive encounter. The adoring Manchester hometown crowd will be happy even if it’s a blowout. This is a launch party, not a sporting competition. And it’s certainly not a “championship” match, despite the event’s marketing.
The title fights will come later, assuming Fury has not done irrevocable harm to himself during his layoff, when his motivation stalled and his weight ballooned.
Fury v Joshua, when and if it happens, will be a fight for the ages and will determine by any and all criteria who “the real heavyweight champion of the world” is.