Fury-Pajkic: Tyson playing it safe

By Boxing News - 10/17/2011 - Comments

Image: Fury-Pajkic: Tyson playing it safeBy William Mackay: Unbeaten Commonwealth champion Tyson Fury (16-0, 11 KO’s) will be taking on another second tier heavyweight when he faces Canadian champion Neven Pajkic (16-0, 5 KO’s) on November 12th at the Event City, Trafford Park, Manchester, Lancashire.

This is a fight you would have to consider another step backwards from Fury’s fight against Dereck Chisora last July. You’d like to see Fury continuing to fight fringe contenders like Chisora instead of going backwards with every fight and facing 2nd tier opposition again and again.

In his last fight, Fury defeated Nicolai Firtha (20-9-1, 8 KO’s) by a 5th round stoppage last month in September. Fury was shockingly staggered by the light hitting Firtha at one point. Fury looked sloppy in the fight and the fact that he’s getting staggered by the likes of Firtha and Chisora doesn’t bode well for his future.

Fury could have faced unbeaten Cuban heavyweight Mike Perez (16-0, 12 KO’s), but Fury’s promoter ruled out Perez for Fury and instead went with the arguably much safer pick of Firtha. In hindsight, it might have saved Fury from a knockout loss because Perez is a very good fighter and with his pressure style he would have given Fury huge problems. It looks like Fury’s promoter still doesn’t want to put Fury in with Perez, hence we’re seeing Fury against the light hitting 34-year-old Pajkic instead.

Pajkic, 6’3″, is tailor made for Fury. He’s slow, hittable and doesn’t have big power. In other words, Pajkic is little threat to end the Fury gravy train. There’s little suspense in this fight because you already know Fury’s got this one in the bag because he can win on size alone.

Fury, ranked #11 WBC, #15 WBA, said “I’m now the number #1 heavyweight in the UK…I’m going to put on a real show and show how world class I am.”

It’s difficult to show how world class a fighter is when they don’t face world class opposition. Fury needs to step it up at least against fringe level opposition.



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