Even though Fury “toyed” with Makhmudov at times, switching southpaw and finishing the 12th with his hands behind his back, Allen saw a version of Fury that was “five times slower” than the man who ruled the division a few years ago.
“To the naked eye, he wasn’t great tonight. I thought it was a really average performance,” said Dave Allen on his channel about Fury’s performance against Makhmudov last Saturday. “It was like the old Tyson Fury, but five times slower.”
“If he went through the gears he could have got him out of there, and he either chose not to or he couldn’t. A 36-year-old that hasn’t met Makhmudov shouldn’t be going 12 with a world-class heavyweight. Fury hasn’t got much left. He was really slow. The pace was slow, painfully slow. Makhmudov isn’t going 12 with anyone near the top five.”
The common consensus among fans that the Wilder trilogy took the best of Fury seems more accurate with every fight. While he got the unanimous decision (120-108, 120-108, 119-109), it was more about Makhmudov being “disinterested” and slow than Fury being elite.
Allen’s X post about Fury having “not much left” reflects the reality of a 37-year-old heavyweight who has lived a very hard life, both in and out of the ring.
Since the Wilder fights, wins over Dillian Whyte, and Derek Chisora didn’t require Fury to be at 100%. The Ngannou scare was the first major warning sign, and the subsequent losses to Usyk in 2024 confirmed that the elite-level agility is gone.
Many analysts believe that the 2021 war with Wilder was the beginning of the end for his peak physical years. Every fight since then, Whyte, Chisora, Ngannou, and the Usyk matches, has looked like a steady decline in athleticism.
If he looked that aged and slow against a version of Makhmudov that Allen described as “finished” and “punching under water,” it really highlights the danger he’d face against the younger, hungrier crop.
Someone like Moses Itauma or Richard Torrez Jr. operates at a completely different frequency. They throw them with a speed and volume that requires elite reflexes to neutralize.
Fury used to move like a middleweight; now, as Allen put it, he looks like he’s fighting underwater or in slow motion.
“I’d like to see him box Joshua or Wilder,” said Allen about Fury. I wouldn’t want to see him box the young guys, anything too fresh, too sharp. I think he’s lost a step or two or three, to be honest.”
Allen, wanting to see him fight Joshua or Wilder, feels like he’s asking for an “Old Timer’s” tournament. It’s a way for Fury to cash out in a big domestic or legacy fight without getting embarrassed by the “young, fresh, sharp” guys Allen mentioned he wants Fury to avoid.
If he couldn’t “go through the gears” against a guy Allen says is “finished,” how does he survive twelve rounds with someone like Jalolov or even a rejuvenated AJ? It looks like the “Gypsy King” is purely operating on muscle memory and reputation at this point.
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