Fury-McPhilbin: Hughie in dangerous fight on September 14th

By Boxing News - 08/29/2013 - Comments

fury4By Scott Gilfoid: The Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez bout isn’t the only interesting fight that will be taking place on September 14th. Unbeaten heavyweight hopeful Hughie Fury (8-0, 5 KO’s) will be making his 9th fight of his career against the big slugging cruiserweight Shane McPhilbin (8-7-1, 5 KO’s) on September 14th at the Magna Centre, Rotherham, Yorkshire, UK.

Why is the 6’6” Hughie facing a cruiserweight instead of a heavyweight is the big question. I guess it’s a way for Hughie’s promoter to make sure that Hughie doesn’t lose, because he’s looked awfully vulnerable against the dreadfully weak opposition he’s been in with thus far.

Hughie is young at 18, so that kind of gives him a free pass to fight cruiserweights despite having a huge 6 inch height advantage and a near 30 pound weight advantage. It’s still a dangerous fight for Hughie, because McPhilbin can really punch, and unfortunately Hughie can’t.

Hughie’s wins in the past four fights have come against Ladislav Kovarik (10-15, 5 KO’s), Tomas Mrazek (7-42-6, 5 KO’s), Ivica Perkovic (19-21, 14 KO’s) and Moses Matovu (4-29-4). Those are dreadful opponents, and it’s surprising that Hughie’s not been pushed up against better opposition. When you see stuff like that, it causes you to wonder whether there’s some doubt about what Hughie can do.

Hughie is the cousin of unbeaten heavyweight contender Tyson Fury. Like him, Hughie doesn’t have the kind of power that you would think for someone his size. He’s not what you would call a slapper like Tyson Fury, but his power punches aren’t far from the slapping variety.

Hughie’s main offensive weapon is his jab. He’s got a decent job, I must say. It’s obviously going to be difficult for Hughie to go far in the heavyweight division if he doesn’t develop his power at some point, but then again look Kubrat Pulev.

That guy only has a jab, and pretty much nothing else. With careful match-making, Pulev has worked himself into a title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. It goes without saying that Pulev will be massacred by Wladimir when they do eventually fight in 2014, but at least he’s getting the payday out of it. I think Hughie could get an eventual title shot against one of the champion’s years from now with the right kind of match-making.

McPhilbin may be a lot smaller than Hughie, but his power is so much better that it’s not even funny. If he can get can his shots in close, I think McPhilbin has a good chance of knocking Hughie out and spoil the party before it gets started.



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