First up, on Saturday (April 23), Britain’s Tyson Fury, who drew a record European crowd of 94,000 to Wembley Stadium for his predictable demolition of compatriot and challenger Dillian Whyte, screened by BT Box Office.

Then 24 hours later, the BBC treated us to an episode of their serialised saga on Muhammad Ali, featuring his famed encounters with George Foreman and Joe Frazier.

It was an unmissable opportunity to compare the two and settle the current argument that the Gypsy King has dethroned Ali as The Greatest of all time.

"I’m a legend in this game," Fury boasted afterwards.

"I’m the greatest heavyweight that ever lived. I can move like a middleweight. I can hit like a thunderstorm, I’ve got balls like King Kong and a mindset like the Wizard of Oz."

It could have been Ali himself talking back in the sixties and seventies. Indeed, there are remarkable similarities between them both in performance and personality. In so many ways they are in a parallel universe as world champions.

Their careers in and out of the ring have followed the same path. Initially both were antiheroes, pugilistic pariahs, reviled and rejected because of their attitude and beliefs but over the years they mellowed, and now, just like the late and much lamented Ali, Fury rides the crest of of redemption.

Both have the gift of the gab - and the jab. Both, too, rely on their feet as much as their fists and can mesmerise opponents as well as the fans.

Both are deeply religious family men. Ali fathered nine children while Fury has six kids, and another said to be on the way! Ali, an Islamic convert, prayed in his corner before every contest while Catholic Fury publicly thanks the Lord after his victories. 

Both are also remembered for thrilling brutal trilogies - Ali against Joe Frazier and Fury against Deontay Wilder. So it is inevitable that they are compared. If you listen to Fury’s father, former heavyweight Gypsy John long enough he will convince you that his first born, whom he named after his boxing hero really is the best boxer of all time, and would have beaten any heavyweight who ever lived.

Certainly no argument that Tyson is the standout heavyweight of his generation, but should you ask me whether he is invincible, or the greatest ever, my answer is no.

True, he is remarkably resilient and has shown he can take it and dish it out. I doubt he would ever be beaten by a big puncher but maybe he would - by an opponent with a cuter boxing brain.

Ali at his best would have out-thought and outfought him in my view. His hand speed was even faster than Fury’s.

And among other postwar heavyweight champions Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson and arguably Lennox Lewis would have presented him with more problems than he has so far encountered.

Fury is ungainly and unorthodox but I’m not sure he is unbeatable. Although he is much smaller and lighter, Oleksandr Usyk, the intrepid Ukrainian who so easily relieved Anthony Joshua of his multiple world title belts, has the style and nous to give Fury some discomfort should they ever meet.

For this to happen, he must renounce his stated intention of retiring - just as Ali did - and Usyk must repeat his victory over Joshua in a Contracted return  bout sche£uled for Saudi Arabia this summer.

Saturday’s sell-out show was testimony to the once again increasing popularity of boxing in the UK. It also re-established 70-year-old Frank Warren as Britain’s premier promoter and demonstrated just how Fury has overcome his mental demons and from being loathed to loved.

Whether his remaining critics like it or not, he is now the biggest sports personality in Britain in every sense. And certainly the richest after earning some £26 million (£22 million/$28 million) with a sixth round peach of a punch, an uppercut, seen so rarely in modern boxing but the most powerful weapon of all.

So what next for Fury? Should he come and keep his word and not fight again? As his wife Paris says, he’s not the sort to remain idle. I suppose he could do a Bruno and take to the stage in panto. At 6’9” he’s a ready-made giant for Jack and the Beanstalk.

King he may be, but will he ever be called to the Palace? Arguably the best ever British boxer he is unlikely to follow Henry Cooper as boxing knight, or even given any sort of gong because of past misdemeanours. But at least he has made boxing a thing of beauty, as well as booty. Just like Ali.