Tyson Fury’s heavyweight rankings look way off the mark in 2023 following a year that saw his No2 and No3 boxers in the glamour division, Joe Joyce and Deontay Wilder, lose convincingly.
In September of last year, Fury rated both fighters just behind him in the world with no place for Oleksandr Usyk or Anthony Joshua inside his top three. At the time, Joyce had just beaten Joseph Parker while Wilder was deep in preparation for his comeback fight against Robert Helenius.
Fast forward 15 months and the hard-hitting duo are barely clinging onto a top 10 spot in the world. Joyce suffered back-to-back stoppage losses to Zhang Zhilei this year while Wilder was utterly dominated by Parker on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ bill in Saudi Arabia last weekend.
“I’ve had a lovely day of watching boxing,” Fury told fans in an Instagram video earlier in the year. “Watching all of the big fights and studying all of the heavyweights. I’ve got to say that big Joe Joyce is the second-best heavyweight in the world, behind myself.
“And on his day, given his moment, who knows if he could beat me or not? I think we’ll have to find out one of the days. I’ve just looked at these prospects who are mandatories for the world titles; Zhang, Hrgovic, and everybody else.
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“I’ve changed my mind and I think big Joe Joyce is the No.2 heavyweight in the world. And who knows if he’s No.1? One day, we’ll have to find out who’s better out of me and him. But at the moment, I’m ruling the roost because I’m world heavyweight champion and he’s not. But he’s f***ing coming for everybody, don’t you worry about that. Come on big Joe!”
Fury had hoped to see the pair face each other in a battle of power against toughness but the interest in that fight has surely dried up following yet another changing of the guard. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who can take Deontay Wilder’s power.
“Joyce is a juggernaut. That’s a fight I’d love to see. If I fight Usyk, maybe Joyce can fight Wilder. Who here wouldn’t want to see that? Who wouldn’t want to see the world’s toughest man take on the world’s biggest puncher? That would be fantastic.”
Wilder was due to fight Joshua next but the American’s points defeat to Parker it set to see that multi-million-pound extravaganza also fall by the wayside.