Britain has produced heavyweight champions for well over a century, but only a handful have a real claim to greatness. Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are the two biggest names of the modern era, and their meeting gives each man a chance to settle where he stands in that history. Anyone looking at the Fury v Joshua odds is weighing up two careers that already rank among the best the country has produced. The question is how high.
Lennox Lewis sets the standard
Any ranking of British heavyweights starts with Lennox Lewis. Born in West Ham, he won Olympic super-heavyweight gold for Canada in 1988 before turning professional under the British flag. He beat Evander Holyfield in their November 1999 rematch to become undisputed champion, the last heavyweight to hold that status until Oleksandr Usyk.
Lewis lost twice as a professional, to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, and avenged both defeats. He beat Mike Tyson in 2002 and stopped Vitali Klitschko on cuts in 2003 before retiring as champion. Few fighters in any division leave the sport with so little left to prove, which is why he remains the benchmark.
The pioneers and the nearly men
Bob Fitzsimmons, born in Helston in Cornwall, knocked out James J. Corbett in 1897 to become world heavyweight champion. He had already been world middleweight champion and went on to add the light heavyweight title in 1903, becoming the first boxer to hold world titles in three weight classes.
Henry Cooper never won a world title, yet he is one of the best-loved British fighters there has been. He won three Lonsdale Belts outright, and his left hook dropped a young Cassius Clay at Wembley in 1963. Frank Bruno lost three world title fights before beating Oliver McCall at Wembley in 1995 for the WBC belt, a win that made him a national favourite. David Haye unified the cruiserweight titles and then won the WBA heavyweight belt from Nikolai Valuev in 2009.
The case for Tyson Fury
Fury’s argument rests on who he beat and where. He travelled to Dusseldorf in 2015 and outpointed Wladimir Klitschko, who had ruled the division for nearly a decade. After a long spell away from the sport, he came back to face Deontay Wilder three times, drawing the first fight before stopping the American twice.
He won the WBC title, drew 94,000 to Wembley for his win over Dillian Whyte, and went unbeaten for more than 15 years as a professional. Both were against Usyk, who became undisputed champion by beating him in the first fight and is widely rated among the best of his generation.
The case for Anthony Joshua
Joshua’s story is about scale. Olympic gold at London 2012 was followed by the IBF title in only his 16th professional fight. His stoppage of Klitschko in front of about 90,000 at Wembley in 2017 is one of the great British heavyweight nights, with both men down before Joshua finished it in the 11th round.
He has been a unified champion twice, winning back his belts from Andy Ruiz Jr after the shock defeat in New York in 2019. Losses to Usyk and Daniel Dubois count against him, but few British boxers have filled stadiums so consistently or held so many belts at once.
What the fight could settle
On current achievements, most judges would place Lewis first, with Fury just behind thanks to the Klitschko win and the Wilder trilogy. Joshua sits close to them, ahead of Bruno, Haye and Cooper on titles won, though some rank Fury’s best wins above anything on Joshua’s record.
That is what makes this contest matter beyond the result. A win for Fury would strengthen his claim to second place, and perhaps start a debate about first. A win for Joshua would give him the victory over a rival of his own generation that his record has lacked. For fans following the boxing betting markets, the outcome will also shape how both men are remembered.
Betting is for over-18s only.
Featured image credit: Shutterstock
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