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There’s a bloke fighting this weekend

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User deactivated.:
Agreed, Fury's reputation/CV took quite a hit! Fury's reputation since his comeback has largely been based on circular reasoning: he beat Wilder, so Wilder must be good and therefore Fury is great. I think that circular logic just came a bit unstuck.

Firstly, Wilder got shut out by the first proven opponent he's faced in Parker. Ortiz was never really proven and was rated via similar circular reasoning having given Wilder a tough fight, which he might actually have won without the doctor shenanigans. Second, Fury went life and death with Wallin, who just got utterly destroyed by Joshua. On the flip side, Usyk's CV just received a boost via Joshua and Dubois both looking great.

I don't fully buy into the narrative I've just laid out; styles make fights and I think there's an aspect of Joshua and Parker finally just putting in long-overdue good performances. But make no mistake, it's not looking good for Fury, especially after struggling with an MMA fighter. However, Fury's most underrated recent win is Whyte. That was a demolition job against a worthy mandatory.

I thought Usyk would become the man at heavyweight before he'd even unified the cruiserweight division and I'm picking him to beat Fury, but as an Usyk fanboy I'm probably not the best person to listen to. If Fury and Usyk do a rematch, it's likely that the IBF will strip the winner as the mandatory is long overdue. That means it will probably be Hrgovic Vs Joshua for the paper title. Good fight but it would be silly to consider the winner a real champion.

Dubois Vs Parker would be a good fight, but probably makes little sense for either fighter on the risk / reward spectrum unless the Saudi's are going to pay well for it.

Nibile:
I didn't particularly enjoy Joshua's performance: he did the job but was static and flat footed as usual. Wallin basically didn't throw anything with bad intentios and didn't belong in that ring. Good performance but against a mediocre (for world level arenas) fighter.
Bivol was as usual a machine.
Wilder put up a terrible show during and after the fight, very good match from Parker and another of many confirmations that Wilder has been hyped beyond measure. The "I want a body on my record" is still unforgivable.
I really liked Dubois's performance against an unpleasant trash talker, banned numerous times for PEDs. Glad for Dubois, although he seems to still lack that killing instinct for the category. He ate a few punches with no big fuss so props to him, he seems a really good guy.
And then there was the boxing day treat: Naoya Inoue.

User deactivated.:
Yep. Inoue is the best fighter in the sport for my money.

Nibile:
Well well well...
NSFW  : I have to honestly say that I would have never thought that it could go this way. Joshua put up a monster performance, he looked attentive but not scared, and delivered in a fight that, had it gone differently, could have seriously damaged or even ended his career.
Hard to draw conclusions, it lasted too little, Ngannou isn't a boxer, he barely moved in the ring, Joshua again quite static, etc., but he is really back on track and - let's be honest - he saved boxing's reputation.
Anticlimatic.

Moo:
Come on then, who’s your money on. On recent performances Usyk is probably the safe bet but you certainly can’t write off Fury.

I think Usyk takes it on points.

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