Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will be forever linked in the history books. Their three-fight trilogy for a piece of the heavyweight title between 2018 and 2021 produced spine-tingling memories and moments that will be talked about in reverential terms decades from now.
There was the first fight, when Wilder viciously dropped Fury in the 12th round, and Fury, like The Undertaker, rising up to beat referee Jack Reiss' count.
There was the second fight, when Fury promised to attack Wilder, as many rolled their eyes. He then did just that, stopping Wilder in stunning fashion in the seventh round of a fight that became known primarily because of Wilder's post-fight comments that his costume he wore on his ring walk was too heavy and took his legs away from him.
And there was the epic third match, in which both were down and in trouble. It was one of the best heavyweight fights in years, which Fury won by 11th round knockout.
That series ranks up there with the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe trilogy.
But when we fast forward to 2024, six weeks before Fury is set to meet unified champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight crowd, we must wonder if we'll ever see either Fury or Wilder at anything close to their best again.
If we do, it would be great for boxing.
But boxing history tells us that fighters who engage in those kinds of brutal fights generally are closer to the end than anyone cares to say.
Let's look at the cases of Bowe and Holyfield. Bowe might have been the greatest physical talent at heavyweight in the last 50 years. He was a massive heavyweight at 6 feet 5, and roughly 240 pounds. He was a devastating puncher, but he was also an agile and smart boxer. His one weakness is that he loved the night life and wasn't so keen on training. When he would apply himself in camp, there were few who were ever better. He didn't do that all the time, though.
Holyfield was the opposite. He's among the greatest cruiserweights and heavyweights of all-time, largely because he wanted it so badly. He maximized his talents by outworking his opponents, not only in the ring on fight night but in the gym in the build-up.
Their first fight, on Nov. 13, 1992, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, is one of the greatest heavyweight fights ever. You have to go back to Larry Holmes versus Ken Norton on June 9, 1978, to find a heavyweight bout that was clearly better than Bowe-Holyfield I.
They rematched on Nov. 6, 1993, at The Mirage in Las Vegas. While that bout is primarily known as "The Fan Man Fight," because paraglider James Miller crashed into the ring during the bout, it was a physical, tough fight that Holyfield won by majority decision. Bowe landed 353 punches, connecting on 45 percent of those he threw. Holyfield connected on 49 percent of his shots, many of which were clean, thudding right hands to the head.
Two years later was the rubber match, which Bowe won by TKO in the eighth. It was a brutal, hard-hitting affair, and the connect percentage by both men was absurdly high. Holyfield connected on 60 percent of his punches to Bowe's 49 percent.
Bowe was never close to the same. He won by disqualification in back-to-back bouts with Andrew Golota and then retired for eight years. He returned in 2004 and fought three bouts against C-level opposition and retired again. He was slurring his words badly at the time of his retirement.
Holyfield fought for 16 more years after Bowe III, and had a pair of memorable wins over Mike Tyson. But he was 10-7-2 with a no-contest after the second Tyson fight and was never as good as he had been in that first Bowe fight.
After watching the most recent outings of Fury and Wilder, one has to wonder if they've hit the end of the line, in part because of the brutal nature of their trilogy.
Fury looked listless, disinterested and generally terrible in a hotly disputed split decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Having to go to a split decision against a man making his professional boxing debut is a loss regardless of what the record books say. But Fury just didn't look anything near the guy who stared down Wilder in that third fight.
Wilder, though, was even worse. He lost a decision to Joseph Parker on Dec. 23 in which he landed nothing of consequence and was strangely inactive. It was his second fight since the finale with Fury, but he didn't go a full round in his only other bout, a 2022 first-round KO of Robert Helenius.
Fury is a -140 favorite at DraftKings to defeat Usyk.
It could be just that Fury never believed Ngannou could come close to beating him and took him lightly. But Wilder had to know Parker, a former WBO champion who was training with Fury, was a legitimate opponent. Yet, Wilder essentially sleep-walked through the bout. Parker didn't so much win that fight, even though trainer Andy Lee implemented a good strategy, as Wilder lost it.
Wilder says he's going to fight again, so we'll see if he's able to find his game again.
Fury will be in action against the undefeated Usyk and we'll know for sure where he stands then.
The fervent wish is that each had a bad night and that not only are they at the top of their games the next time out, but that they're healthy and in good spirits far beyond their boxing careers.
History, though, suggests it's an uphill battle for each of them.