has accomplished a staggering amount during his 35 pro-fight career, enough to cement himself among the all-time greats. The heavyweight championship division Fury rules over today is part of perhaps the most-storied lineage in all of sports, one that dates back to 1885.
That’s when John L. Sullivan, once the bare-knuckle champion, became boxing’s first-ever heavyweight champion under the Marquess of Queensberry rules. He held that distinction until his landmark fight with James “Gentleman Jim” Corbett in 1892. Following Corbett’s 21st-round KO victory in New Orleans, the championship lineage that extends to today was established. As pro-wrestling legend Ric Flair says, “To be the man, you have to beat the man.”
Now more than ever, with four titles in each weight class, the lineal championship helps to identify who is “the man.” This Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Fury defends the lineal championship against Oleksandr Usyk in boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight championship fight since Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield in 1999
Through 139 years of heavyweight boxing history, just 38 men have had the honor of calling themselves the lineal champion in the sport’s glamor division, the title that bestows each individual “baddest man on the planet” status. Four of those fighters were two-time lineal champions — Floyd Patterson, George Foreman, Holyfield and Lewis — and only one won the title three times: Muhammad Ali.
Even former cruiserweight lineal champ Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), 37, of Ukraine, who defeated Anthony Joshua twice and currently holds three of the four heavyweight titles, nor Joshua, despite his lengthy run as unified champion, have ever possessed the heavyweight lineal championship. Though lineages can always be debated.
After Fury upset Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to win the lineal heavyweight championship, he didn’t fight for another 2½ years as he battled substance abuse and depression. During that time, Anthony Joshua collected the three belts Fury vacated and produced a string of impressive defenses. His second reign was ended by Usyk, who defeated Joshua twice.
Fury, 35, ESPN’s No. 10 pound-for-pound fighter, knows all of this, of course. His historical knowledge of the division gives much-needed context toward exactly what he’s looking to accomplish, and how this monumental fight with No. 3 ranked Usyk might impact his legacy.
“You gotta understand the game you’re in, the division you’re in,” Fury told ESPN, “the people who came before you so you can understand who you are and where you’ve come from and what journey you’re on. I believe that.
“You’re just talking about elite, elite, elite men. That’s why not all of these champions can be on that list as lineal champions. Only the best of the best of the best can be lineal champions. That’s why this fight, it means a lot to me, because if Usyk can beat me, puts his name on that list. If he can’t beat me, he’s not even gonna be on the list of lineal champions ever.”
Fury will look to gatekeep Usyk from that hollowed list of great fighting big men in a bout that’s nearly deadlocked per ESPN BET (Usyk at -105, Fury at -115). Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, told ESPN last month that the rematch is planned for Oct. 12 or 13 in Riyadh. Fury’s goal across these two upcoming fights with Usyk: “Keep ’em off that list.”
“Only way that they get on that list is if I retire before them and then they get a chance to do it,” Fury said. “While I am the gatekeeper, no one shall pass.”
“Do you know who has a lot of knowledge like this, though? Mike Tyson,” Fury added. “Mike is the historian. I trust myself as I know a lot about heavyweight boxing. But Mike can go back to like 1845. Mike is incredible.”
Ahead of the summit meeting to crown boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era, “The Gypsy King” showed off his immense knowledge of the heavyweight division with his thoughts on many of those 37 other lineal champions who came before him.
Regarded as boxing’s first-ever superstar, Sullivan was a cultural icon of late 19th century America. He was bestowed the championship on Aug. 8, 1887 in Boston, though his 75th-round KO victory over Jake Kilrain in Mississippi is largely recognized as the first-ever heavyweight championship fight. That was the final heavyweight title bout contested under the bare-knuckle, London Prize Ring Rules. It was also one of the first sporting events in the United States to gain national news coverage. Sullivan’s first defense of the recognized championship was his final fight, a 21st-round KO loss at the hands of Corbett. Both men wore five-ounce gloves.
“John L. Sullivan was a pioneer in this game,” Fury said, “and he made it possible for all of us people after him and even today to be able to do what we’re doing.”
There are some, including Fury, who believe Sullivan wasn’t the first champion at all. Fury credits James “Jem” Mace as the inaugural heavyweight champion. And there is a legitimate claim. Mace had defeated Tom Allen in 1870 in Louisiana, but anti-British entailment led many to disregard him as champion in the bare-knuckle days.
“Mace was a gypsy like me,” Fury said. “He had to be, he was brilliant. He was a three-time world champion. Three different divisions: middleweight, welterweight, heavyweight. Before Queensberry rules. It’s actually debated [who was the first champion]. Some people don’t say it’s John L. Sullivan. … I’m not gonna go into it, that’s a topic for another day.”
James Corbett | 11-4, 2 NC, 3 KOs) | 1892-97
Corbett fought just 20 times, but nine of his opponents ended up in the International Boxing Hall of Fame just like him. Prizefighting was still illegal in 21 states during his title reign, which included just one successful defense. A 14th-round KO loss to Bob Fitzsimmons in 1897 in Carson City, Nevada, ended Corbett’s run. He challenged twice more for the heavyweight championship in a pair of stoppage defeats to James J. Jeffries.
“Corbett was a good guy. Corbett and Jeffries, all of these guys, they were all good guys back in the day,” Fury said. “They had a very weird style, what we’d say today. They were sort of like men who just punched each other to pieces. They were good, tough men back in the day. Different, different era, different time of boxing, but all good men.”
Bob Fitzsimmons | 61-8-4, 6 NC, 57 KOs | 1897-99
No. 8 on The Ring Magazine’s list of the top 100 punchers, Fitzimmons was boxing’s first three-division champion. He weighed just 167 pounds when he defeated Corbett and lost the title in his first defense, an 11th-round KO loss to Jeffries in Brooklyn.
James J. Jeffries | 19-1-2, 2 NC | 1899-1905
Best known as the “Great White Hope” who came out of retirement to lose to Jack Johnson in a second heavyweight title bid, Jeffries went on a tour of exhibition bouts around the U.K., ahead of his first defense. That came against Tom Sharkey in a rematch. Jeffries made seven more successful defenses before he retired in 1905. Five years later, in 1910, he returned to fight one last time, a 15th-round TKO defeat to Johnson in what was promoted as the “fight of the century.”
Marvin Hart | 28-7-4, 20 KOs | 1905-06
Following Jeffries’ retirement, Hart won the vacant title in July 1905 with a KO win over Jack Root in Reno. Before that win, Hart had already defeated Johnson on points. Hart was knocked off in his first defense, a 20-round decision defeat to Tommy Burns.
Tommy Burns | 47-4-8, 35 KOs | 1906-08
The Canadian Burns made 13 defenses before he met Johnson, who scored a 14th-round TKO victory in Sydney, Australia, when the police stopped the bout.
With that landmark victory, Johnson became boxing’s first Black heavyweight champion. Johnson made seven defenses before a 26th-round KO loss to Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba. Johnson is regarded as one of the 10 best heavyweights ever and among the most important figures in sports history.
