Originally Posted by
Primo Carnera
Originally Posted by
TitoFan
Amazing!
The resilience of boxing fans is truly unmatched anywhere in the universe. Judging robberies? No problem. We just get mad among ourselves and piss and moan and then tune in to the next match. Fights marinating for years? No problem. We just leave it on the back burner and patiently wait until the trap door opens and food is thrown in. Useless belts made up on a whim by boxing orgs? No problem. We just lap it all up like good little fans.
Finally, we have the rematch of the decade that was until........ oops..... it wasn't. So what do we do? We theorize about how good a deal it is for Fury and how smart he was by taking it. All is forgotten... all is forgiven.
Just wrote on another thread where we remain puppets on a whole bunch of strings being pulled by sleazy promoters, greedy networks, and corrupt boxing orgs. They dangle an enticing matchup in front of us..... then snatch it away just as our salivary glands have become activated. All that's missing is the giant laughter coming from the other side.
Let's call a spade a spade, shall we? For all of Fury's talk and posturing before and AFTER his fight with Wilder, the truth of the matter is that the first fight was a huge show they both gave us, the boxing fans. The rematch was basically a done deal. Boxing fans were happy. Then it all gets yanked away by the Boxing Mafia, and we're left talking about ESPN deals, how much money Fury et al stand to make, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseam.
Fury had second thoughts, pure and simple. Any thoughts of a rematch were beaten out of him by one right hand in the 12th round. Instead of theorizing about who can blame Fury for passing up a huge deal with Arum and ESPN, we should be theorizing about who can blame Fury for finding an out from a rematch where one big right hand can change everything. Because you KNOW that's how it's going to be spun in MANY boxing circles. You go up to the big leagues... you'd better be ready for some 100-mph fastballs. It comes with the territory.
But back to our resilience. It's just f*cking amazing.
I don't reckon Fury had second thoughts about the fight. It's a plain and simple financial issue. He's been offered a ridiculous contract that all of us would find extremely hard to turn down. it blows anything he or Wilder have previously earned out of the water. And if they want him to fight Peter Pan , he would.
If he was wary of fighting Wilder, he wouldn't have took the first fight with so little preparation.
And the way the fight went , he would be chomping at the bit to fight Wilder again. He knows that he can only improve from that fight, whereas Wilder has had 40 fights to improve , so he knows Wilder won't improve. Fury also believes he tied Wilder up in knots , and for the majority of the fight , he did.
As for the 12th round knockdown , I don't think it was as dramatic as it looked. I don't think he was as badly hurt as it looked when he was lieing there like a mummy.
I just think that Fury is a big ungainly oaf, and looks like he's been poleaxed. he looked the same against Cunningham , but had all his wits about him.
You can tell this , because when he got up against Wilder, he didn't just go into survival mode. he put combinations together and looked pretty solid on his feet.
.... and we're sooooo forgiving as boxing fans. Because after all, the main purpose of professional boxing is to make guys as much money as humanly possible. Guys who otherwise wouldn't have a shot in hell at making even a decent living at anything else. Fans are just an afterthought. We're expendable. Never mind that we pay for the whole kit and caboodle. It's a good thing for the boxing Mafia that there are fans like you, who so magnanimously shake off the spit and turn your attention to the more entertaining things, like discussing the details of boxers' contracts.
You can surmise about Fury's mind frame concerning Wilder as much as anyone else can, and all arrive at different conclusions. It's all speculation now though, isn't it. The only logical step following a hugely entertaining fight as much as that one was an immediate rematch, but hey..... f*ck the fans. Boxing is, as we just established, there for the sole purpose of making a few handful millionaires while thumbing its collective nose at us groveling fans. Isn't that about the size of it?
We'll never know what would've happened in a rematch, because now it'll never happen. There's bound to be a stumble somewhere along the way, and who's to say that stumble will belong to Wilder? Could be Fury, for all we know. Chances of both surviving a 5-fight contract on either side and still meet undefeated in a rematch are nil and none. But who cares about that right?
An immediate rematch between Wilder and Fury would've gone a long ways toward fixing a division that's been broken for decades. A fix we got a glimpse of when Joshua beat an incredibly not-timid Wlad... and continued when Wilder and Fury put on a surprisingly good show. Any other sport...... ANY other sport.... would've taken advantage of that break in the clouds to ensure the glamour division of boxing would continue to improve, by paving the way for that highly anticipated rematch. But boxing didn't, because well..... f*ck the fans, that's why.
Meanwhile, we're left behind.... secretly bemoaning the loss of a potentially great rematch.... but publicly taking the comical high road of pretending to care about Fury's economic windfall.
This is better than stand-up.
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