The two fighters have absolutely transformed British and World Boxing over the last few years, and have helped to bring many new fans to the sport. The question often asked is who do you prefer Fury or AJ, you’re allowed to like both for fuck sake.
In a similar debate you’ll be asked who do you prefer Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, I refuse to simply call him Ronaldo, there is only one Ronaldo. You can like both and appreciate their greatness in equal measure, and watch them both without hoping the other will lose.
You can, and get this, have equal affinity for both.
When Fury fights, as is the way on social media all you’ll see is AJ would spark him, AJ would beat Fury in 3 rounds, usually from a Twitter handle like fxukfury or ajstats or some basement dweller with their 4 followers and nothing better to do with their time, that sounds familiar but I can’t quite think of where, at the time of writing this I have *checks notes* five, yes 5 followers on Twitter.
The very same happens when AJ fights, social media floods full of you big dosser memes or big stuff idiot posts, fury schools AJ you big bum dosser, or some shite like that.
I find them both likeable in their own way, Fury, to me Fury feels like the perfect underdog story to quote him “a man who had everything then lost it all” we typically root for these kind of people. He is somebody you should follow and hope wins. His polished boxing ability still dumbfounds me and how somebody so big can be so slick and box that beautifully, somebody who can do all that and then have a scrap when he needs to.
My case for Aj is simply how could you want him to win, he’s an Olympic gold medalist, two time unified heavyweight champion of the world, with a grenade of a right hand and who to my mind is steadily improving his boxing as he realised he can’t just walk through his opponents anymore, who has inspired many people to watch and take part in boxing with his meteoric rise to the very top.
They are both unique, Fury the showman, the over the top glitzy ring walks, the shouty pressers and ever promising of knockout. Then we have AJ, wanting to play the humble warrior, although that mantra has slipped on occasion, the failed Jarrell Miller fight and the the most recent bout against Kubrat Pulev, on both occasions he was colder than usual, more calculated with his words and nastier, I absolutely love that side of him and hope he brings it out more often.
I don’t expect this will change anybody’s mind and that’s not my intention, when they fight, and that has to be next, there is no other fight for either one, Twitter and Facebook will be full of the same comments I see all the time anytime either of them in are in the news.
Both of them are far from angles, neither will claim to be, both have flaws, but they’ve done more for British and World Boxing than anybody for a decade, and for that they both deserve our respect.
Like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, they won’t be around forever, so appreciate it while you can, I’d still bet my last 10p that at least the first fight won’t be on UK soil, but we can all unite in blaming Eddie Hearn for that!
Cheers, The Fat Man
Fat Lad Sports 