Eddie Hearn: ‘Don’t talk about Tyson Fury in the same breath as Ali’

Callum Boyle

Hearn believes the ‘Gypsy King’ is not in the same bracket as the greats

Eddie Hearn has admitted that he doesn’t believe Tyson Fury should be mentioned in the same bracket as the likes of Muhammad Ali.

Fury continued to establish himself as one of the best current heavyweight fighters about following his sixth-round stoppage victory against Dillian Whyte on Saturday night.

The ‘Gypsy King’ delivered a brutal uppercut to cause the ‘Body Snatcher’ to hit the canvas and force the referee to call the fight off.

Whyte has since come out and claimed that he was ‘illegally’ shoved by Fury and is demanding a rematch, but that didn’t deter from what looked like a comfortable performance from Fury.

"I was buzzed but obviously I was trying to regather my senses and he proper pushed me and I fell over and hit my head on the canvas which is illegal." 👀https://t.co/RCQ3IjdtWH

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOE_UK) April 25, 2022

After the fight, the ‘Gypsy King’ confirmed his retirement from boxing, with many believing he is one of the greatest fighters of all time to grace the ring.

Fury also claimed that he is the best heavyweight fighter the sport has seen. In his post-fight conference, he said: “I’m a legend. I’m the best heavyweight there’s ever been.

“There ain’t ever been anyone that could beat me. I have a six foot nine frame, 270 pounds of weight, can move like a middleweight, can hit like a thunderstorm, can take a punch like…anybody else.”

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‘Please don’t talk about him in the same breath as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier’

However boxing promoter Hearn believes that while he is the best heavyweight on the planet currently, and boasts some impressive wins to his name, Fury shouldn’t be mentioned in amongst the names of boxing greats such as Joe Frazier.

Speaking on the DAZN boxing show he said: “He’s the best heavyweight on the planet. He could be a generational great, but with victories over Deontay Wilder, Wladimir Klitschko and Dillian Whyte, please don’t talk about him in the same breath as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.”

Hearn was also quick to play down Fury’s claims that he would be retiring from the sport and labelled him as a “bluff merchant.”

“Tyson Fury is a great bluff merchant, he ain’t retiring,” he added.

“The biggest fights for Tyson Fury haven’t happened yet.”

‘If he beat AJ and Usyk, I’d give him all the respect and be up there’

Hearn’s prized asset, Anthony Joshua, is set to take on Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch with the winner potentially in line for a unification bout with Fury to claim all heavyweight titles, and the promoter has said if he fights the winner of that face-off, then he can be considered a “generational great.”

“If he beat AJ and Usyk, I’d give him all the respect and be up there,” he said.

“There is no argument Fury is No 1… well actually there could be an argument between Fury and Usyk, but with that resume, don’t call him a generational great. He may be the greatest of all time, I don’t think so, but he has got to prove it in your resume – not beating one guy [Wilder] three times.

“I give Fury the credit and respect of knocking people out. I said he wasn’t a one-punch knockout artist, I still don’t think he is compared to some of the other bigger-hitting guys. He’s proving me wrong.

“I didn’t rate him before Klitschko, I thought he had no chance; he won nearly every round. I didn’t think he had a chance in Wilder 1, he won that fight, and I didn’t think he’d knock Whyte out, and he did. So, respect to the man.”

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