Tyson Fury is set to defend his WBC world heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte on Saturday, and while all logic points to smooth sailing for the champion, there may be more factors at play than meets the eye.
Fury is arguably the top pound-for-pound talent in boxing, and at six-foot-nine with a seven-foot wingspan, he is one of the sport's toughest puzzles to crack.
The 33-year-old sports a record of 31 wins and one extremely controversial draw against Deontay Wilder, which he avenged twice with back-to-back finishes of the heavy-handed American.
In a vacuum, 'The Gypsy King' by unanimous decision seems like the overwhelmingly likely result as his physical gifts and boxing skill should allow him to rack up rounds on the judges' scorecards as he picks apart the slower, smaller Whyte from the outside.
Whyte, at six-foot-four, is the shortest opponent Fury has faced since Sefer Seferi in June 2018.
But fights are not fought in a vacuum, and there are some familiar storylines clouding over the head of the reigning champion that could mean the Fury we see on Saturday may not be the same animal that dominated Wilder.
Fury's last dance
First and foremost, Fury is adamant that this will be his last fight, and he will retire in the ring this weekend – win, lose or draw.
Fighter retirements must always be taken with a grain of salt, given the fact that it has now become a common tactic among top attractions in order to drum up massive interest in their eventual return.
However, Fury's feels different. This week he has been outspoken with the media about his desire to retire after his last fight with Wilder, but the prospect of returning home and fighting in front of 94,000 at Wembley convinced him to go around one more time.
"It's been a long old ride, it’s quite emotional to be honest," he said.
"All this, the ride of starting as a little kid and wanting to be heavyweight champion, and then to finally be hanging up the gloves.
"And I know nobody believes me, because they all think I'm after money or whatever else – there's only a certain amount of people who know that money doesn't mean anything to me."
Simply put, Fury is only fighting for the honour of retiring undefeated, and the biggest fights of his career – taking the world championship off Wladimir Klitschko, and coming to America to take on Wilder – are behind him.
Fury will still have his skills, his size and his experience when he steps into the ring against Whyte, but the history of combat sports is littered with examples of fighters who have fought with one foot out the door, and that desire to continue to be great, and dominant, is something that can fade.
'Marvelous' Marvin Hagler once said "it's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5am when you've been sleeping in silk pyjamas", and there is no heavyweight alive with silkier pyjamas than Fury right now.
Whyte, on the other hand, is heading into the fight of his life, and his last real opportunity to propel himself into the realm of boxing royalty.
At 34, with two losses on his record, the only way someone at Whyte's level can leap into the next stratosphere as a prize-fighting main attraction is to win a marquee fight against someone currently wearing the crown.
Add in the fact that he is an Englishman, raised in Brixton, living out the dream of competing at Wembley in the biggest fight of his career, and from a motivational standpoint, it appears the advantage is clearly in Whyte's corner.
Fury the boxer, or Fury the entertainer?
Much has been made of Fury's change in trainers late in 2019, where he began training under the tutelage of SugarHill Steward.
The stylistic changes have been apparent, and in Fury's own words: "I punch a lot harder, I use a more aggressive style, and I'm looking to get people out of there rather than out-box them."
He has only fought twice with Steward in his corner, and both times were against Wilder – a boxer solely focused on landing a knockout, with no interest in stacking up rounds with patient boxing.
Whyte approaches things far differently. He does not head-hunt – a trait that earned him the nickname 'The Body Snatcher' – and he is more than happy to win by decision.
Given Fury's incredible size and movement skills, a game-plan centred around attacking the body – which moves around far less than the head – is the most sustainable way to tally scoring punches.
Whyte has never been knocked out in 52 combined professional fights across boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts, so if Fury is in there looking to end his career on a high with one big shot, Whyte can steal three or four early rounds and turn it into a tight decision.
Great Whyte hope
Not to get lost in Fury's skill superiority is the fact that Whyte is, obviously, very talented in his own right.
His first loss came against Anthony Joshua back in 2015, and it was the first time Whyte had been faced with an undefeated professional opponent with more than five fights.
Needless to say, he was not ready, but was still able to take multiple rounds off the Olympic gold medallist before his eventual demise in round seven.
Since then, Whyte has successfully dealt with fellow world title contenders Dereck Chisora (twice), Lucas Browne (by knockout) and Joseph Parker, and after being derailed by Alexander Povetkin in August 2020, he responded by knocking him out in the rematch eight months later.
That knockout earned Whyte this shot at Fury, and in his long, winding road to his chance at the taking the throne, he has proven his ability to respond to adversity, win close fights and do damage to elite heavyweights.
If Fury is truly done, Whyte could be the man tasked with carrying the torch for British heavyweight boxing going forward, and a win could set up another English mega-fight – this time with Joshua.
JBA stages 1st fight card for 2024
The Jamaica Boxing Association staged its long awaited first fight card for 2024 with four fights and an exhibition bout on Saturday at the Stanley Couch Gym in Kingston. It was an all amateur fight card under the banner Gloves Over Guns Futures Programme.
Three of the four fights went to the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) whose boxers looked well prepared and physically fitter than their opponents. Arguably the fight of the night was the final (elite) bout between Delano McLaughlin of the JDF and Kirk-Patrick Heron of the Port Antonio Gym in a light heavyweight match-up. Both fighters were very determined while going all three rounds of three minutes each. At times they traded blow for blow while taking some big punches but in the end McLaughlin landed more hits and was adjudged the winner.
The first JDF boxer to enter the ring was Gervin Garrison in a light heavyweight matchup with Sadeki Harris of GC Foster Gym. Both boxers got busy immediately but Garrison soon showed that he was the better fighter with cleaner punches and was more agile around the ring. Harris took a lot of punishment and showed a lot of heart to stay toe to toe with Garrison but just did not have the strength to throw some winning punches as Garrison came out the clear winner.
That fight gave way to another JDF match-up between with Shawn Morgan in a lop-sided super heavyweight face off with Vernando McKenzie of Funrobics Gym. McKenzie entered the ring confidently but could not handle the force and speed of Morgan. He faced referee Wayne Roberts count more than once in the less than two rounds that he was in the ring, as Roberts eventually stopped the fight midway in the second round.
The only boxer out of the blue corner to record a win on the night was Mark-Andre Mendez of Control Strike Gym against Hammid Gordon of Funrobics Gym. They put on a spirited light middleweight show for the crowd but Mendez sent down more punches and was definitely under less pressure in the ring.
The opening action on the night was an entertaining exhibition bout which went to Alex Grant of Suga Gym over Crishaun McPherson of Funrobics Gym. They were the youngest boxers on show at just fourteen years old.
Stephen Bomber Jones, president of the Jamaica Boxing Association was pleased with the response from the boxing community. “I am very encouraged. I am extremely encouraged by what I saw. I am more encouraged also by the response by the boxers, the gyms and the managers themselves because tonight represents what they have been asking for, at least an answer, one of the answers for what they have been asking for. They have had their boxers training without being able to showcase their skills so this gives a platform to answer that so I am very happy.”
He also said ‘the last Saturday of every month we intend to have the same show but going forward it won’t just be amateurs. We want this platform to be from the most novice boxer which is our grassroot boxers – children, the elite amateurs – those that will over the next couple of years give the activities so that they can represent us internationally and also those boxers who want to turn pro, we give them this platform to have monthly bouts so that they can build a professional record so that they can be the choice of boxers that we carry around the island. The public deserves the best boxers when we do the Fight Night Series so this will be kind of be a feeder programme into the Series. The best boxers, the best amateurs and the best professionals that come out of this we will showcase around the island.”
The fight card was sponsored by Pepsi, S&G Road Surfacing, Vere Events, Locker room Sports and Creative Sports
Joshua 'rolled the dice, but came up short' in Dubois defeat
Anthony Joshua is likely to call for a rematch against Daniel Dubois, having conceded he "came up short" after he "rolled the dice" in Saturday's bout at Wembley Stadium.
In front of a record-breaking, 96,000 crowd that had been further geed up by a performance from Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, it was Dubois who turned in a supersonic display on Saturday.
Joshua saw his hopes of clinching the IBF heavyweight title slide away as Dubois dominated from the off, before delivering the knockout blow in round five.
Some pundits suggested this should be the end for Joshua, though the 34-year-old insisted he is not planning on stopping any time soon.
"Credit to him and his team. We rolled the dice of success, but we came up short," he told DAZN.
"You know I'm ready to kick off in the ring, but I'm going to keep my cool, keep very professional, and give respect to my opponent.
"I'm always saying to myself I'm a fighter for life... We keep rolling the dice.
"I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that's the game."
Promoter Eddie Hearn, meanwhile, claimed Joshua would likely take up the option of a rematch.
"I'm sure he'll exercise that rematch clause, it's a given, it's a dangerous fight because he's growing in confidence all the time but he'll believe he can beat him," Hearn told DAZN.
Dubois, though, will likely want to turn his attention to facing the victor out of Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, with their rematch set to take place in December in Saudi Arabia.
'Gladiator' Dubois desperate for 'redemption' after brutal Joshua knockout
Daniel Dubois does not want his "redemption story" to stop after dominating Anthony Joshua to reclaim his IBF heavyweight title.
Oleksandr Usyk vacated his IBF belt, labelling it as a present for the fight between Joshua and Dubois, the latter taking the title by default.
Dubois left no doubts over the merit of his belt on Saturday, though, delivering a brutal fifth-round knockout blow to Joshua in front of a record-breaking crowd for the all-British clash at Wembley Stadium.
Speaking on DAZN after an impressive triumph, Dubois addressed the record-breaking crowd: "I've only got a few things to say, are you not entertained?!
"It's been a journey and I'm grateful to be in this position. I'm a gladiator, I'm a warrior until the bitter end. I want to get to the top of this sport and reach my full potential.
"Behind the scenes, the work with my dad. I've been on a rollercoaster run, this is my time, this is my redemption story. I'm not going to stop until I reach my full potential."
Tyson Fury and Usyk are set for a Riyadh rematch in December, though Dubois will be waiting in the wings for a shot at the heavyweight pair.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn immediately suggested his fighter will seek to activate a rematch clause with Dubois, however.
Whether Joshua can recover from this defeat remains to be seen, having been sent spiralling to the canvas multiple times, including in the opening round.
Joshua appeared to have found a way back into the bout in the fifth, only for Dubois to land a crucial right-hand finisher, much to his understandable delight.
"I am the man," he added to Sky Sports. "A mix of emotions. I can't say too much right now. I'm fighting to get all the glory. To me, I'm the hunter and I need to hunt."
As for his next fight, Dubois is dreaming big, adding: "All of the best, maybe Usyk [for] a big shot at my redemption. Anyone can get it."
Frank Warren echoed Dubois' sentiment, with the Queensbury promoter eyeing another shot at Usyk for Dubois, who lost to the Ukrainian in August last year.
"It was a phenomenal fight and I always felt it would be a [Marvin] Hagler versus [Thomas] Hearns situation," Warren told DAZN. "AJ showed his heart right until the end. It was a brilliant fight.
"I always felt Dubois would do it and he has. It's not a turnaround, it was there. He was a young man and had double fractures in his eyes, he couldn't fight. He hurt him [Usyk], I'd like to see him fight him now but he has to fight Tyson now.
"Everyone here has seen a champion's performance. He's done everything you could ask for. AJ caught him with a shot over there and I was worried. He's a young man and on top of his game, he can improve."
WBO interim heavyweight champion Joseph Parker also put his name into the hat to face Dubois, with Fury and Usyk not set to meet until later this year, which would keep any challenger waiting.
"If he [Dubois] wants to get it on then let's go," Parker said on DAZN immediately after the result.
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