Hughie Fury’s trainer pleased with his progress

By Boxing News - 12/23/2013 - Comments

hughie53By Scott Gilfoid: Peter Fury, the trainer and father of unbeaten British heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury (12-0, 7 KO’s), feels that the 6’6″ fighter is moving along nicely with the direction his still young career is going in. The 19-year-old Hughie fought 12 times in 2013, albeit against weak 3rd tier opposition for the most part.

Peter is trying to develop Hughie into a future world champion, and he wants to push him quickly with a lot of fights for him to learn from. Unlike heavyweights like Anthony Joshua, Hughie hasn’t had much of an amateur, so he’s getting on the job training if you will.

Peter said to Hennessy Sports “It’s worked exactly to plan giving him as many fights as possible in this space of time – it’s done him nothing but good. He’s now fighting clever, while before he felt like mixing it up and taking opponents out, he’s now pacing himself and he’s trying different things in there. He’s learning from every situation, every time he jumps in that ring – he’s a throwback to world class fighters of the past and they’re already likening Hughie to the top fighters in the heavyweight division.”

I’m not so sure about the bit about Hughie not mixing it up with his opposition. It sure looked like Hughie was mixing it up with his last opponent David Gegeshidze in their fight last month. Hughie was going toe-to-toe with Gegeshidze from what I could see, and getting the worst of it in a lot of the exchanges I observed. That’s the fight that Hughie ended up with a cut over his eye, which is why he hasn’t fought since then. The plan was to keep Hughie busy in fights in December, but with the cut that he suffered in the Gegeshidze, Hughie has had to take time off and heal up.

I’m not so sure that the grand plan that they have for young Hughie is going to work out so well. The lack of power that Hughie possesses is disappointing to say the least. You can take a fighter without power and fight him 100 times, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to end up being 100 times better or that he’s going to transformed into a puncher with world class power. All you get from a fighter that has been in the ring a ton of times is a lot of scar tissue and wear and tear. Even against the God awful opposition that Hughie has been feasting on since he turned pro, those guys are getting their licks in. It’s not like Hughie is going out there like Deontay Wilder and knocking all these guys out in 1-2 rounds without being hit. Hughie’s opponents are finding him with their best power shots and making the fights more competitive than they should be.

I don’t know what’s going to happen with Hughie’s lack of power. I guess he’s probably going to be stuck that way for the remainder of his career. But Hughie needs to stay in the gym and try to do something with his slender upper body. The lack muscles in his shoulders, chest and arms are readily apparent when looking at him. I can only deduce that Hughie’s inability to punch comes from his slender build. Peter needs to get Hughie in the gym and have him workout 2-3 hours a day on upper body exercises, and maybe by a year or two, he might have some power. Right now, Hughie’s not showing the kind of power that he’ll need for him to be a good heavyweight. I’d hate to see what would happen if Hughie got thrown in the ring with a good heavyweight right now. Without the punching power needed for him to be competitive, he’d likely be trashed by pretty much most if not all of the top 15 contenders.



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