Tyson Fury has earned a ton of accolades in his later career after being largely dismissed following his 2015 win over Wladimir Klitschko and subsequent mental breakdown. But not one to stay down, the big man came back two years later and started building himself up again slowly but surely.

Two warm up decision wins preceded his first fight against Deontay Wilder in December of 2018 — the one where Wilder knocked him dead but Fury somehow got back up and completed the fight, earning a draw in what should have been a clear decision win for the “Gypsy King.”

His following wins over Tom Shwarz and Otto Wallin were solid but it was the second dominating fight over Wilder that re-established him as a heavyweight to be feared. Fury dropped the cautious technical boxing style that he’d used in the first fight and went toe to toe with Wilder, battering the “Bronze Bomber” en route to a 7th round TKO via Wilder’s corner throwing in the towel.

Now, after that wild Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight, no one can deny Fury’s skill or heart, or place in the pantheon of heavyweight greats. Knocked down twice in the fourth round by Wilder’s infamous power punches, Fury survived and turned things around in the fifth, winning every round up until he knocked Deontay out in the 11th round (see the scorecards or watch the highlights). A great fight, a masterful performance, and confirmation that Tyson Fury is a generational talent.

That’s a sentiment longtime martial artist, UFC commentator, and podcasting giant Joe Rogan agrees with. He took to Instagram shortly after the fight ended to gush about Fury.

“All hail the Gypsy King!” Rogan wrote. “One of the greatest heavyweight fights of all time. Incredible.”

Rogan has been a longtime fan of Fury and had him on The Joe Rogan experience back in October of 2018 (JRE MMA Show 48 for those looking for the whole thing) leading up to the first Fury vs. Wilder fight. A big part of that podcast focused on Tyson’s issues with mental illness and how he turned things around.

If you didn’t know, after defeating Wladimir Klitschko (at a time where the Klitschkos had an iron grip on the heavyweight division), Fury descended into depression and nearly committed suicide. His story is pretty damn inspiring: not only did he manage to pull himself out of it, but now he’s the WBC and The Ring heavyweight champion and has an argument for being the true lineal heavyweight champ because his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles were stripped when he was unable to rematch Klitschko due to his condition.

Now all that’s standing between him and all the belts is Olexander Usyk, who recently defeated Anthony Joshua to take the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles. Well, to be more specific, it may be Usyk, or it may be Joshua. The two will rematch early in 2022, and who knows if a rubber match will be demanded if Joshua makes it 1-1.

But with Usyk early in his reign and Joshua coming off his second recent loss, there’s no denying Tyson Fury deserves recognition as the best heavyweight in the world right now. At 31-0-1, the undefeated heavyweight has earned the right to call himself the greatest fighter of his era.

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