Tyson Fury In Pursuit Of Redemption: Five Memorable Heavyweight Title Rematches

Tyson Fury’s attempt to recapture the heavyweight crown from Oleksander Usyk on Saturday is the latest in a series of rematches that have illuminated the legend of the title the two will contest.

He isn’t the first to seek redemption through a rematch but if he is successful, he will join an exclusive band of fighters.

Applying metrics to determine the best of more than a century of heavyweight title rematches is a complex endeavour. Is it the entertainment value of the fight? The historic significance? Or the quality of the two fighters? An amalgam of all?

In short, conjuring a top five is a merely opinion and the following selections could be largely interchanged and there were many worthy contenders not included.

Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2: Five Memorable Heavyweight Title Rematches

5 – Evander Holyfield v Mike Tyson WDQ3

June 28^th 1997

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Few fights could match this for notoriety or drama. Made a year on from Holyfield’s sensational upset of Mike Tyson, the champion immediately confirmed the superiority of his technique and resolve and demonstrated the first encounter had not been a fluke. “Iron Mike” frustrated by Holyfield’s use of the head crumbled and in frustration at his inability to discourage chose to bite a part of Holyfield’s right ear off in a clinch. Even typing it now, close to 30 years later, it is hard to digest. The fact referee Mills Lane ‘only’ deducted two points and allowed the fight to continue equally unbelievable in hindsight. Tyson repeated the assault on Holyfield’s left ear and was disqualified. A year’s suspension did little to diminish Tyson as a box-office draw, but he would never again reach the brilliance of his youth.

4 – Floyd Patterson v Ingemar Johansson KO5

20^th June 1960

Polo Grounds, New York

Patterson is frequently diminished by modern reviews of the heavyweight past. Two crushing first round knockout losses to Sonny Liston are frequently the most common point of reference when considering his career but it under appreciates him as a significant force. Trained by Cus D’Amato, Patterson was the youngest heavyweight champion – until D’Amato’s protege Mike Tyson won the title in 1985 – and was the first former champion to regain the title. He did so by overcoming Ingemar Johansson who had dropped the then champion six times in their first encounter. The fact Floyd could find a way to redeem himself against the same opponent deserves enormous credit. Patterson was as fast as a middleweight, a good puncher and deserves more respect than he often receives.

3 – Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder TKO7

20^th February 2020

MGM Grand Garden Arena

A draw in their first fight preserved both fighter’s unbeaten records and the manner of Fury’s climb from the canvas in the final round had added luster and legend to a fight few expected Fury to prevail in – given his inactivity and ballooning weight in the years before it. The rematch proved improbable too as Fury dispensed with a career boxing style of being elusive and prodding with his jab to become a heavy-handed bomber. Overwhelming and destroying the limited but dangerous WBC champion in seven one-sided rounds. Wilder was never the same fighter, and Fury may never be better than that night in the MGM Grand. One sided, yes, but a thriller of a fight.

2 Gene Tunney v Jack Dempsey UD10

22^nd September 1927

Soldiers Field, Chicago

The first fight between this famous pairing drew 120,000 in 1926. Dempsey had been the biggest boxing star of the era. Relentless, ferocious and a heavy puncher he had been inactive as champion from 1923, and the long sabbatical had stolen some of the fire and youth which lay beneath his previously impervious style. Tunney had simply out-thought and outmanoeuvred him. Nevertheless, the rematch was expected to reappoint Dempsey as champion and when he battered Tunney to the canvas in the 7^th it looked like he would reclaim the crown. But in his absence the rules on knockdowns had shifted – in the confusion of the knockdown, Dempsey failed to go to a neutral corner, Tunney was afforded additional seconds before the ref could take up the count. It was a source of national debate, and the fight became known as the Long Count Fight. Tunney would win by unanimous decision.

1 Joe Louis v Max Schmeling KO1

June 22^nd 1938

Yankee Stadium, New York

Their first fight in 1936 hadn’t been for the title but German Max Schmeling’s upset stoppage victory as a 10/1 underdog had shocked the boxing world. Louis still received a title shot first and was a much more seasoned fighter by the time the rematch was signed against a backdrop of rising tension across Europe. Adolf Hitler was leading a fascist Germany and war would break out just a year later. The rematch was loaded with racial and geopolitical overtones as well as Louis own expressed need to overcome Schmeling to full legitimise his status as the Heavyweight champion.

Schmeling was knocked out in the first round. It was considered the Fight of the Decade by Ring magazine. Important to note that Louis and Schmeling would become friends beyond their fight and the German was ill at ease with the regime he was assumed to represent.