RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Sometimes the kindest thing a person can do before you enter a certain situation is say to you: "No, really, you don't want to go in there."
If ever you hear this, you can be sure it is a preventive measure. You know its primary aim is to protect you from your own curiosity and you know it only pertains to things you are better off avoiding. It might, for instance, pertain to a particularly gruesome murder scene, or a restaurant serving bad food, or a restroom you have been advised to give a wide berth to until the air freshener kicks in. It can also pertain to specific websites, or viral videos, as well as to tune-up fights.
One such fight took place on Friday in Pattaya, Thailand. That was where Tyson Fury and Mariusz Wach, a couple of heavyweights, went through the motions in a glorified spar nobody really wanted or needed to see . It was, after all, no more than a workout for Fury; a bout he opted to take only because Anthony Joshua, the man he wants to fight next, had the temerity to take one of his own that same weekend. That's ultimately why Fury vs. Wach was held in Thailand and why only 1,500 tickets were available (the proceeds from which went to the Father Ray Foundation, a charity dedicated to caring for underprivileged, orphaned, and disabled children in Pattaya). It is also why the fight was not aired on any television network, streaming service, or website, but instead returned us to a time when round-by-round accounts carried power and the word of ringside observers was gospel.
In short, it was a mismatch treated the way all mismatches should be treated. For once, rather than find ourselves strung along, any prospective viewer was encouraged to avoid it — "Nothing to see here," was the message — and so most of us did. The only thing that mattered was that it happened and that Fury came away both unscathed and victorious. He wanted some rounds, he said, just to turn the engine over, and in Wach he had selected a 46-year-old Pole still capable of providing them. In the end, he got seven. After those seven rounds, Wach decided he'd had enough and that was that.
Thankfully, we had missed nothing. The fight, such as it was, had gone as we expected – justifying the belief that it was one to skip — and highlights of it filmed on phones at ringside were more than sufficient in terms of coverage. On reflection, that might even be the best way to both present and consume a Tyson Fury fight in 2026. Stripped back to just the essentials, the lack of access helped to generate a series of short clips and headlines designed to make you click to discover more: Was Fury HURT by Wach in Round 2? Did Fury KISS Wach on the lips in Round 6? Watch as Fury lands five CONSECUTIVE UPPERCUTS and SHOUTS to the crowd after each of them!
Yes, Tyson Fury did indeed kiss Mariusz Wach. Thananuwat Srirasant via Getty Images
Perhaps, in the age of the endless scroll and short attention spans, all fights should be shown this way. They should be served to us in pieces, digestible chunks, with all the fat, seasoning and nuance removed. They should find a home not on mainstream platforms but instead on social media timelines, shoved somewhere between images of Vinícius Júnior's new face , Charli XCX's latest album rollout and Sydney Sweeney's newest R-rated gif.
Besides, on account of its inevitability, who really needed to see how Fury broke Wach down in front of 1,500 locals in Thailand? All we needed was the result and a few decent clips to farm engagement in the immediate aftermath. All we needed to know was whether Fury was still keen on fighting Anthony Joshua, his countryman, later this year.
"I got through my test. Let's see if [Joshua] gets through his test," said Fury (36-2-1, 25 KOs). "The biggest test of it all is how big his balls are. I think he's a big s***house.
"In Tottenham [Hotspur Stadium] in front of 70,000 people, he never had the guts to get in the ring and face me. Let's see if he ever does. I'm not convinced."
Had he been convinced, Fury may well have made the trip from Thailand to Saudi Arabia to watch Joshua fight Kristian Prenga the following evening . Instead, he opted to go home, with his manager, Spencer Brown, left to confirm his no-show an hour or so before Joshua and Prenga entered the ring in Jeddah. "He won't be here," Brown said. "But he will be here in spirit."
For three minutes we wondered if the same was true of Joshua. Dropped by Prenga's right uppercut after just 20 seconds, Joshua traveled on unsteady legs for the remainder of Round 1 before touching the canvas for a second time when a left uppercut, every bit as sneaky as the first, again upended him. In between those two knockdowns he was nailed by all manner of shots, including a long right hand from Prenga which would have produced another knockdown had the ropes not kept Joshua on his feet.
Anthony Joshua appeared to be heading toward a nightmare in Round 1 against Kristian Prenga. Mark Robinson via Getty Images
At that point, the dream had died. There would be no fight between Fury and Joshua, and Fury, as if sensing it, had done the right thing by choosing not to attend what had become the fight's death knell. One even began to question whether Fury was watching the fight at home, or whether, like many others, he had decided the £19.99 required to watch Joshua-Prenga, a tune-up, on DAZN represented both daylight robbery and a guaranteed way to restrict its potential audience. Regardless, we know one thing: Joshua, in those opening three minutes, wished his tune-up with Prenga had been kept away from the cameras, witnessed only by the smattering of sheikhs sitting at ringside.
Because now Joshua was exposed, his every flaw visible. Worse than that, he was suddenly in danger of being embarrassed by a 35-year-old Albanian whose ...
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