This is Rummy’s Corner.
Last Saturday night at the Wembley Arena, in a bout that was televised on the relatively
new streaming app service known as DAZN, unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight world champion Anthony
Joshua defended his championship against challenger Kubrat Pulev.
This was a mandatory defense for AJ’s IBF title, and it was a solid performance from
Joshua.
AJ began patiently boxing without overextending himself or taking any unnecessary risks.
His patience paid off in round 3.
About halfway through the round, Joshua drilled Pulev with a mean right.
Joshua pounced on his wounded foe, he soon had him hurt again, and Pulev turned his back
prompting the referee to begin his count.
Pulev survived the count, and before long AJ had him down again.
Pulev again beat the count and survived the round without further incident.
AJ had seized the momentum as Pulev was trying to bide time and regain his composure.
Joshua remained patient and methodical as he continued outboxing the challenger over
the next several rounds.
Pulev managed to land a nice shot here and there, but whenever he did land Joshua took
them well.
And Joshua was otherwise dictating the tempo and controlling the range of the action.
In round 9 AJ delivered a series of wicked uppercuts that had Pulev down once more.
Pulev beat the count, but not for long.
Joshua delivered a booming right hand that had Pulev down yet again, and this time he
was unable to beat the count.
The fight was over.
It was a 9th round knockout, and with the victory, Joshua retained his unified IBF/WBA/WBO
heavyweight world championship.
Amazingly, this was only the second heavyweight championship contest all year.
The other one happened way back in February, before COVID-19 changed the entire boxing
landscape, and indeed, the entire world as we once knew it.
That was when WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder put his title on the line in a long
awaited rematch against lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
That battle of undefeated heavyweights, each of whom had a legitimate claim to the heavyweight
crown, was broadcast on a joint ESPN-Fox PPV event.
The first encounter between Wilder and Fury had ended in a somewhat controversial draw,
but there was nothing controversial about the outcome in their rematch.
Tyson Fury simply dominated Deontay Wilder from start to finish.
Fury began the fight committed to pressing the action in an effort to make Wilder fight
going backwards.
Fury dropped Wilder late in round 3, and while Wilder bravely battled on as best he could,
the momentum was all Fury after that.
Fury dropped Wilder again in round 5 when he landed a stinging left downstairs.
Wilder’s legs were gone, but still he battled, and still Fury continued executing his gameplan
in style.
Fury never overextended, he never got reckless, and he continued taking care of business.
Wilder was beginning to absorb a lot of punishment.
Fury was breaking him down physically and mentally.
Things finally came to an end in round 7 when Wilder’s corner stopped the fight.
It was a 7th round technical knockout, and Tyson Fury had just become the new WBC heavyweight
champion.
With 2020 drawing near an end, we are right in the midst of a critical period during this
era of heavyweight history.
It’s amazing to think how different things were just a little over five years ago.
Back then Wladimir Klitschko was the long reigning king of the heavyweight division.
Klitschko was the unified IBF/WBO/WBA heavyweight champion, whose reign had lasted over 9 years
during which time he made an incredible 18 consecutive title defenses.
Only the great Joe Louis and “The Easton Assassin” Larry Holmes had more consecutive
heavyweight title defenses.
But more impressive still, Klitschko hardly lost a round during his reign of dominance,
and he was still considered head and shoulders above the rest of the best.
But despite his impressive reign of dominance, Klitschko never became the undisputed heavyweight
champion.
Klitschko never held the WBC title, which belonged to his brother Vitali for a number
of years during Wlad’s time at the top, and in January 2015 Deontay Wilder captured
that title from Stiverne.
The Klitschko era officially came to a sudden end on November 28, 2015 when Tyson Fury defeated
Wladimir by 12 round unanimous decision.
Fury won the fight by outmaneuvering Wladimir in one of his greatest strengths - Fury was
able to dictate the range and control the fighting distance, which effectively neutralized
the potent and methodical offense of the great Wladimir Klitschko.
Fury’s elusive movement was causing Wlad a lot of confusion.
Klitchko was having difficulty finding a target because of Fury’s hypnotic herky-jerky rhythm.
Fury made Wlad reluctant to punch.
This was the first and only time that anyone ever effectively neutralized Wladimir’s
offense over the distance.
It was a masterful performance from Fury that ushered in a new heavyweight era.
But the IBF inexplicably stripped Fury of his title just 10 days after he beat Wladimir.
And personal problems would keep Fury out of action for nearly 3 years, and the WBA
and WBO would also strip him of their titles.
But he never lost any of these titles in the ring.
During Fury’s absence, Deontay Wilder continued making successful defenses of his WBC belt.
Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua became the IBF champion after beating Charles Martin in April 2016.
And after making a couple of defenses of that belt, Joshua defended against former champion
Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017.
The vacant WBA belt was also on the line in this one.
Klitschko looked far more comfortable than when we last saw him against Fury, but Joshua
was clearly outboxing Klitschko over the first 4 rounds.
AJ was throwing more, he was landing more, and he was doing an excellent job of neutralizing
Wladimir’s jab.
A big left hook from Joshua in round 5 led to a flurry that had Wladimir timbering down.
But this knockdown emboldened Klitschko, and he began fighting more aggressively.
In round 6 Wladimir nailed AJ with an explosive right that dropped the champion.
Klitschko had seized the momentum, and his experience took over.
Now it was Klitschko who was throwing more, landing more, and doing a better job neutralizing
AJ’s tactics.
But even though Klitschko was controlling the action, slowly but surely, Joshua began
sneaking in shots of his own.
In round 11 Joshua rocked Wlad with a right uppercut, and he followed up and scored a
knockdown.
Klitschko beat the count, but a combination from Joshua had him down again.
Still Wlad beat the count and bravely battled, but Joshua was overwhelming him and referee
David Fields waved it off.
With the victory AJ claimed the vacant WBA belt.
So AJ did something Tyson Fury did not - he stopped the great Wladimir Klitschko inside
the distance.
But that victory didn’t come easy for AJ, whereas Fury was never in any serious trouble
at any point during his decisive win against a younger fresher version of Wladimir.
Unlike AJ, Fury did make it look easy against Klitschko.
But styles make fights, and Wladimir’s methodical approach matched up much better against Joshua,
whose own style is more deliberate and predictable than someone like Fury, whose elusive rhythm
never allowed Wlad to properly set his shots the way he could against Joshua.
AJ added the WBO belt to his existing collection when he won a 12 round unanimous decision
against Joseph Parker in March 2018, and Deontay Wilder had continued defending the WBC strap
throughout this timeframe.
It was then that Fury finally made his long awaited return to the squared circle.
So by the middle of 2018, AJ and Wilder had emerged as the top two heavyweights during
Fury’s absence.
This produced a very interesting and unique situation in heavyweight history where we
had three undefeated heavyweights, each of whom had a legitimate claim to call himself
heavyweight champ.
Wilder held the WBC belt, AJ had the unified IBF/WBA/WBO belts, and Fury was still the
man who had dethroned long reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko, and Fury never lost those
titles in the ring.
Ironically, all three belts that once belonged to Fury were in possession of AJ.
For whatever reason, a mega-bout showdown between Wilder and AJ never came together.
It was a wasted opportunity, and it’s a damn shame the fight didn’t happen when
it made the most sense.
Wilder then defended his title against Fury in December 2018 after Fury had won a couple
of comeback fights.
Thus began the Fury-Wilder rivalry.
Meanwhile, AJ got mixed up in an unexpected rivalry of his own, following his shocking
upset loss at the hands of Andy Ruiz Jr. Ruiz won the unified championship from Joshua in
June 2019 when he dropped Joshua several times before winning by 7th round technical knockout.
Joshua avenged the loss in December of last year, where he made several tactical adjustments
to decisively beat Ruiz in their rematch by 12 round unanimous decision.
That was AJ’s last bout prior to beating Pulev last weekend.
So during the entire Klitschko reign we did not have an undisputed heavyweight champion.
And with everything that has happened in the 5+ years of the post-Klitcschko era, we still
have not had an undisputed heavyweight champion.
In fact, it’s been more than 20 years since we’ve had one.
The last one was Lennox Lewis, who unified every major world title of his day on November
13, 1999 when he won his rematch against Evander Holyfield by 12 round unanimous decision.
Of course, his undisputed reign was ruined when the WBA stripped Lennox of their alphabet
trinket a few months later.
And that was the last time we had an undisputed heavyweight champion.
But the 1990s saw a handful of undisputed heavyweight champions.
The decade began with Iron Mike Tyson holding that distinction.
But no sooner did the 90s begin, Tyson suffered a shocking upset loss at the hands of Tokyo
Douglas in February 1990.
Douglas lost the undisputed crown against Evander Holyfield, and Holyfield lost it against
Bowe.
The undisputed championship was then splintered when Riddick Bowe tossed the WBC trinket into
a garbage can.
It took almost 7 full years before Lewis successfully re-unified the undisputed crown.
That felt like a LONG 7 years to be without an undisputed heavyweight champion.
But 7 years was nothing compared to the 20 year gap we’re still experiencing right
now.
It’s incredible!
20 years without an undisputed heavyweight champion.
So here we are, at the end of 2020.
Anthony Joshua currently holds the unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight championship.
And Tyson Fury is the WBC champion who also has a legitimate claim to the more prestigious
lineal heavyweight crown.
This fight will never make more sense than it does RIGHT NOW!
Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua for undisputed heavyweight supremacy!
And the backstory between these two is like something out of a Hollywood script.
You have the big name common opponent, who just so happened to be the Heavyweight King
of the previous era.
And you also have the fact that between Fury’s rivalry with Wilder, and Joshua’s rivalry
with Ruiz, you have two outstanding elite heavyweights who have both exhibited a proven
ability to totally adjust their styles going into a high profile championship rematch.
Things are perfectly aligned for a megabout showdown between Fury and AJ.
As of this moment, there are rumors that this fight might happen as early as next May.
In theory there could still be potential pitfalls involving Oleksandr Usyk being the #1 mandatory
for the WBO, and then it’s possible that Wilder might have a legal path to getting
a third fight with Fury.
It’s impossible to say how those potential roadblocks might figure into all of this,
and then we also have the problems with COVID-19, where boxing is dependent on the live gate,
and the finances might be another potential stumbling block.
But it’s been more than 20 damn years since we’ve had an undisputed heavyweight world
champion!
Boxing fans deserve this!
The last thing we need is another situation where the biggest fight in the entire sport
that makes the most sense doesn’t happen.
We don’t want another situation like we had with Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis, and
hell!
We don’t even want a situation where AJ and Wilder blew it with a huge missed opportunity.
So here’s to hoping the Boxing Gods will bless us with an undisputed heavyweight showdown
between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
The timing will never be more perfect.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.