Full Fight: Should Fury have lost his lineal championship to Wallin?

Tyson Fury was a huge favorite against Otto Wallin, but by the rules should he have lost his LINEAL!!!!! title?

Just about a year ago, in Sept. 2019, Tyson Fury entered as a massive favorite against Otto Wallin in Las Vegas, in a fight that headlined on ESPN+.

But the fight wound up controversial for more than just how the scores turned out. By judges’ tallies, Fury retained his LINEAL!!!!!! heavyweight championship on scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 118-110, pretty comfortable all told. (For what it’s worth, BLH had it 114-114 (my card) and 116-112 for Fury.)

Wallin, however, had opened up a vicious gash on Fury in the third round, and the cut in question was caused by a legal punch. Yes, Wallin worsened it with some questionable tactics, including a flat-out blatant foul where he raked the laces of his glove against Fury’s cut, but the cause of the cut was a legal punch. And Fury bled and bled and bled — to the point that, realistically, most fights would have been stopped, and Wallin awarded the W.

Why wasn’t this one?

Because Fury was the A-side — by a lot. Because Fury’s rematch with Deontay Wilder, a big money fight, was on the line. Because ESPN and Top Rank have put a lot of money into Tyson Fury, and no cut was going to be the reason he was upset by the largely unknown Swede.

That, of course, is just my opinion. But what do you think? Should Fury have been stopped in that fight? Should Wallin have pulled one of the great upsets or recent memory and been awarded the win? Or was referee Tony Weeks totally right to let Fury press on — as Tyson wanted to, mind you — given the level of fight we’re talking about here?