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Who Is The Best Heavyweight in the World?

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Who Is The Best Heavyweight in the World?

 

 

Who is the best heavyweight boxer in the world today?

Is it unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, lineal champion Tyson Fury or WBC champion Deontay Wilder? A quick survey of the NY Fights crew, by me, Kelsey McCarson,  reveals there’s still no clear answer–even after Saturday’s awesome clash of heavyweight titans on Showtime pay-per-view.

 

#TeamAJ

John Gatling: Did you see what unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua did to Alexander Povetkin? Before that, he walks through an exam with Joseph Parker and takes his belt, and he was on the verge of destroying a brick shithouse in Carlos Takam before a merciful stoppage. His resume in 21 fights is sick: He has defining wins over long reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko, Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale, Charles Martin and Dillian Whyte. Just because Tyson Fury looked like the lineal heavyweight champion he was and still is, and Deontay Wilder demonstrated why he's the WBC heavyweight champion due to his shocking, game changing power, to a certain degree, a largely inactive Fury exposed Wilder as a wild fighter short on pedigree. Meanwhile, AJ definitively beat the man (Klitschko) who was beaten by a man from the past (Fury) I'm still not sold can defeat the present and the future (AJ). The pick here is Joshua until proven otherwise.  

Thomas Penney: It's a tough call. Deontay Wilder has a record comprised almost entirely of no hopers, and even then there's footage of him being rocked badly by very, very poor fighters. I will not give him credit for being bailed out by horrible scorecards this weekend after being comprehensively outboxed by  Fury. We learned this weekend that even with his fearsome power, he generally needs a knockout to win. Fury is the hot pick, and maybe should have been the pick all along. We've seen him beat Wladimir Klitschko, and we've seen him climb off the deck against Wilder, something no one has ever really done. Had the correct cards come in Saturday, I'm sure many of the Boxing Insiders out there would have already anointed him. Then there's Anthony Joshua, who has an objectively better résumé than both Fury and Wilder, but has so many questions. His chin, his stamina, his boxing acumen; we all love to question it. The fact is, he came off the deck to knock out Klitschko, dispelled the myth of Joseph Parker, and has been steadily improving since his scare against Dillian Whyte. AJ is my pick, but like I said a year ago: there are no good heavyweights.

Hamza Ahmed: Thomas literally read my mind word for word with his response, I couldn't have articulated a better response. In complete agreement with him and can't really add anything. But imagine if Tyson Fury never went through what he did…

 

#TeamFury

Chris Glover: Tyson Fury is the closest thing the heavyweight division has to a complete fighter. Fury is only 30, which in heavyweight terms is far from ancient. He’s still going to get better. His defense is the best in the heavyweight division, and when he puts his combinations together they’re effective. His movement, both offensively and defensively, is tremendous. He creates openings not many heavyweights have been able to do in recent years. He has feet similar to that of a lightweight and one of the best jabs in the business. Fury will only get better. The Fury we saw on Saturday wasn’t the best Tyson Fury we’ve seen, and I’m 100 percent sure that over the next 12-18 months Fury will be visibly better every time he steps in the ring. A 100 percent Tyson Fury is untouchable in my eyes.

Kelsey McCarson: There’s only one Tyson Fury and he’s the lineal heavyweight champion of the world. Fury’s combination of size, athleticism and boxing skill is unparalleled. He probably could have used a few more fights to back into proper form before facing Wilder, but took the fight anyway and gave a tremendous effort. I was okay with the split draw, but concede that the majority of people think Fury won the fight. He’s just a rare talent who is one of the toughest human beings on the planet. To me, he’s the best heavyweight until somebody proves he’s not be defeating him in the ring.  

Colin Morrison: Tyson Fury brings a unique combination of size, movement, speed and heart to the table. The comeback story is also a factor as this resonates with people all around the world. He will take on anyone, anywhere it seems and isn't half bad at selling a fight either. Yeah, I'm convinced, right now “The Gypsy King” is the best heavyweight on the planet.

 

#TeamWilder

Abraham Gonzalez: Even after Saturday night's fight, I still think Deontay Wilder is the best heavyweight in boxing. Yes, that sounds contradicting because of how he looked this past weekend, but he has consistently looked for the biggest challenges. He was on a plane to Moscow to fight Povetkin when no one wanted to!  He fought Stiverne twice, faced adversity with the boogeyman Ortiz and lastly fought the lineal heavyweight champion, Fury.That is what you want from your heavyweight champion! I like Joshua a lot, but he still has to earn the stripes that Wilder already has which will come with better opposition in the future.

Kelsey McCarson covers boxing for NY Fights, The Sweet Science, Gambling.com and Bookies.com. He also hosts a YouTube show about boxing with his wife, Rachel McCarson, called "Real Talk with Kelsey and Rachel".