We fight fans never know where the next great boxing trilogy will come from. After a great fight, or sometimes a controversial fight, the call for a rematch is huge. If the two warriors are 1-1, the rubber match has to happen, and the trilogy has to happen. Could Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury give us the next great heavyweight trilogy?
Fury, who, of course, has to win the return fight with Usyk on December 21st to have any shot at sharing a ring with the only man to have beaten him in a third fight, is brimming with confidence that he will get his revenge in Riyadh four days before Christmas – and Fury has told Boxing King Media that the third fight between him and Usyk will then happen.
“I think this will be one of the great trilogies, me and Usyk, like Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. Going back to those days. They were great fights, and I believe when I beat him again, I’ll definitely do a trilogy with him. 100 percent. Got to be. One each and then the trilogy.”
One can forgive Fury, a proud and passionate fighter, for believing he deserved the win over Usyk in May and that this is why he said, “when I beat him (Usyk) again,” but Fury, the self-proclaimed boxing historian, made a huge gaff when he said Dempsey and Tunney boxed a trilogy. As fans know, Tunney and Dempsey actually boxed twice, with Gene winning both fights via decision (the second was the legendary “Long Count” fight, with Tunney going down but getting back up to win, this after being given a long count).
If Fury can get the revenge win in December, he and Usyk should do it again, especially if the second fight is a close battle that goes to the scorecards.
Ali-Frazier perhaps ranks as the greatest heavyweight trilogy ever. At the same time, the three wars Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield had, the three tough fights Ali and Ken Norton had, and the three slugfests Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson engaged in also rank very highly. Maybe, years from now, boxing historians will look back on three epic fights between Usyk and Fury.
