Fury Flaunts Klitschko Win While Avoiding Present Reality

Tyson Fury posted a celebratory video today, reveling in his decade-old victory over then three-belt unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Today was the anniversary of Fury’s 12-round unanimous decision win over then IBF, IBO, and WBO heavyweight champion Klitschko from November 28, 2015, in Düsseldorf, Germany. Fury won by the scores 115-112, 116-111, and 115-112.

Interestingly, the 37-year-old Fury is focusing on the past rather than the future. He has a lot of opportunities to carve a legacy beyond his win over the 39-year-old Wladimir.

“It’s been a decade today, 10 years later, since I dethroned the long-reigning heavyweight champion of the world Wladimir Klitschko, 28th of November, 2015,” said Tyson Fury on social media today, celebrating his win over Wladimir.

Wladimir was 39 years and 8 months old at the time of the fight. Fury was 27 and 8 months. The age of Klitschko may have been a significant factor in the outcome, along with his fighting without his trainer, Emanuel Steward. He’d passed away several years earlier on October 25, 2012. Without Steward in his corner, Wladimir wasn’t the same attack and destroy fighter he’d been.

Despite Klitschko’s advanced age, he still possessed far superior hand speed and power than the younger Fury. What cost Wladimir the fight was his passivity and failure to attack relentlessly, taking advantage of his speed and power. Having Steward in his corner rather than his former sparring partner, Johnathon Banks, may have made a difference for him.

“On that night, I said, ‘Today, Tyson Fury goes down as a legend.’ That was before the fight. Never mind beating him and doing exactly what I did. I’ve been celebrating every day, Wladimir, for 10 years. Thank you, Wlad, for making me a multi-millionaire, a very successful, and a multi-time world champion,” said Fury on social media.

It’s not just the win over Klitschko that played a key role in making Fury a fabulously rich fighter. It’s the matchmaking. His promoters steered him into fights against badly flawed fighters, like Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and Derek Chisora, before he was finally exposed when matched against a quality fighter, Oleksandr Usyk.

His two losses to Usyk took the ambition out of Fury, who promptly retired and has done nothing since losing for the second time.