There are seven billion people in the world, but there’s only one heavyweight champion of the world and that’s me.

— Tyson Fury: Lineal, Ring Magazine and WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World.

A new WBC Heavyweight champion of the world has been crowned; further cementing Fury’s claim as the number one heavyweight of the era is the ring magazine heavyweight belt, awarded to the lineal, undisputed champion or any fighter so dominant that the belts are an afterthought. After the fight, Fury became one of two champions to gain the Ring Magazine Championship belt, an unofficial but equally revered title amongst fans of the sport.

From start to finish, Fury outclassed his slight, shorter opponent with brilliant infighting, clinch-work and a masterful display of boxing exposing Wilder’s unadulterated and unashamed persona as a one-trick pony albeit the most dangerous one-trick pony the division has ever seen.

But let’s not sell Wilder short. At 6′ 7″ (a little over 2m), Wilder himself was no small opponent. Despite weighing in at a career-high of 231lbs (a little under 105kg), Wilder was bullied around the ring – hitting the canvas four times, despite 2 knockdowns being disregarded as a result of some wrestling and an unfortunate shot that ended up landing on the back of Wilder’s skull (i.e. a rabbit punch, illegal due to neurological safety concerns). Fury landed an amazing body shot knockdown in the fifth and in Wilder’s liver. His corner eventually threw in the towel after spot of domination in a neutral corner with Wilder being unaware of his corner’s decision leading to a surprised look from the Bronze Bomber’s face.

As I watched the fight, the moment I noticed Wilder’s ears bleeding I immediately realised the reason for Wilder’s loss of balance. His energy being sapped by his opponent’s clinch-work – The lineal – and now WBC Champion – outweighing the Bronze Bomber by 42 lb. To put the weights into perspective this is the approximate difference between a flyweight and middleweight or a middleweight against a cruiser-weight. Though being regularly outweighed by his opponents, up until this point, Wilder had never fought someone as skilled, as tall and as heavy as Fury was. Fury transformed from a defensive genius to the an infighter of the highest calibre – an incredible feat considering his considerable frame (most infighters being the smaller man).

People often make the criticism of Wilder’s resume being padded. Here’s why they’re wrong. Unfortunately for Wilder, his journey to the top was hampered by his amateur record. Despite being adorned with an Olympic bronze (a feat most elite boxers do not get the chance to better or even equal), he has an approximate amateur record of 35 fights. In comparison, Lomachenko (LW) had over 10 times the number of fights allowing him the necessary experience, reputation and results to challenge for a title in his second ever fight. The lack of amateur experience in Wilder’s case means that much like Marvin Hagler, he had to compensate with a professional resume. Fury also had a similar amateur record. However, his fighting heritage allowed him an early start in boxing unlike the Alabaman who began boxing at 20 years-old in contrast to Fury who began at 10 years-old. Despite being the older fighter, Wilder was definitely the less experienced, less tested fighter on this occasion.

Honestly, Anthony Joshua has his work cut out for him. Luckily he has two buffer mandatory fights to get past in the form of Kubrat Pulev and the former undisputed and undefeated lineal cruiser weight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. In the age of giants, the Ukrainian has a relatively modest frame of 190cm (6′ 3″) but could prove a challenge for the smallest of the two British heavyweight champions. Personally, I believe both challengers provide upset potential that could easily mitigated by the new, improved Joshua. Unfortunately, Deontay will probably have to build up his resume further against the division’s elite before getting another shot at the Gypsy King with his legacy put into question.

Undeniably, this was one of Fury’s best performances with the Gypsy King looking nigh-unstoppable the moment he stepped over the ropes (yes, if you didn’t notice, he is indeed that tall). Wilder must re-invent himself to reach the upper echelons of the division once again. At 34 years-old, is too late for Wilder to actually learn how to implement boxing into his knockout-artist style?

Edit: Yes, it was too late for Wilder to learn how to box. His amateur style was abandoned for one that would succeed in heavyweight boxing i.e. one that lends itself to 10 ounce gloves and his god given power and also one that abandons some of the fundamentals that he learned as an amateur. While a valiant effort, where both men traded knockdowns, Fury earned himself a stoppage in one of the best fights in recent memory in the Heavyweight Division.

Fury on the other hand has blossomed into someone that finally uses his 270lb 6’9″ frame to absolutely bully and batter his opponents. Whether this style holds up well to Usyk who now holds the other 3 belts (WBA, IBF, and the WBO belt), remains to be seen. Usyk is determined to capture the ever elusive WBC belt that would make him the undisputed, lineal, Ring Magazine champion going as far as to accept a 70/30 split publicly. To which, Fury has responded by calling Usyk a sneaky bastard. As to what this implies, is up to the reader.

Me personally? Fury is incredibly elusive both inside and outside of the ring having fought Whyte and Chisora (for the third time) in non-competitive bouts. His style, while leading to more knockouts, seems to toe the line of the Queensberry rules of excessive clinching. It almost shadows the style of the Dr. Steelhammer (Wladimir Klitschko), who the Gypsy King dethroned for 3 of the 4 belts in a fight that truly shook up the world.

[Update: changes to some paragraphs because I wrote them while drunk and some of them simply didn’t make sense when I reread them.]