Can Cunningham pull off an upset of Fury?

By Boxing News - 03/27/2013 - Comments

fury1By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) has been speaking about himself in glowing terms for the past year or so, calling himself the greatest heavyweight on the planet even though he’s yet to face an actual top tier opponent. Sorry, I don’t count Kevin Johnson and Dereck Chisora as being 1st tier fighters.

Fury has been bragging about himself 24/7 since his fight with the 36-year-old Steve Cunningham (25-5, 12 KO’s) was first signed. That’s all well and good because if no one else is giving you the pat on the backs then I guess you might as well pat yourself on the back.

But the problem here is that Fury is really setting himself up to where he’s going to have a face full of pie if he doesn’t produce against Cunningham, because he’s been talking about how he’s going to retire the guy and put him out of his misery on April 20th when they meet up at Madison Square Garden in New York.

If Fury is unable to produce the goods then he’s going to look really bad. This actually a step up for Fury, I hate to say. The guys that Fury beat previously don’t rate.

Chisora has never beaten anyone remotely good, and Kevin Johnson looks four years past his prime, and even then he wasn’t a great heavyweight. And the fact that Fury is facing Cunningham, a fringe contender, sends major red flags out about his management’s confidence in him. I mean, why is Fury near bottom tier fighters like Cunningham when he’s supposed to be the top heavyweight in the division? Why not accept Deontay Wilder’s challenge and face him in the U.S. Or better yet, why not have your promoter lure Wilder over to the UK by showing some green.

Cunningham, 6’2”, 205 lbs., may be a lot lighter and shorter than the 6’9” 250 pound Fury, but he’s still a bigger puncher and faster than him. I can see Cunningham really lighting Fury up in this fight and hurting him if Fury makes the mistake of trying to go straight after Cunningham instead of trying to use his size and box him.



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