Fury weighs in at 274, it’s probably a trick

By Boxing News - 02/14/2014 - Comments

fury5444By Scott Gilfoid: Britain’s Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) weighed in at a career high 274 lbs at today’s weigh-in for his clash against replacement opponent Joey Abell (28-7, 28 KO’s) on Saturday. This is 20 lbs heavier than Fury was for his last fight against little Steve Cunningham last April. However, if you look at what Fury was wearing when he weighed in – a bulky sweatshirt, shoes, pants, hat, and likely his wallet and keys – the reality is he’s probably the 254 he was for his last fight.

It just looks like Fury is trying to play mind games with the 32-year-old Abell. Why Fury would want to play mind games with a fighter who has been knocked out in 3 out of his last 5 fights is beyond me. If that’s what Fury needs to do in order to try and get an edge against a 3rd tier opponent than more power to him.

Personally, I think it shows a weakness of mind to try and psyche out a guy that is already dramatically over-matched to begin with, but I think it shows that there’s some fear in Fury’s mind about the power that Abell will be bringing to this fight on Saturday night at the Copper Box Arena, in London, UK.

With Fury acting bizarre, I’m now giving Abell a slight chance of winning this fight if he can hit Fury right in his grill with a hard shot. Cunningham, a light puncher, had Fury on his backside last April and that wasn’t the only time that he had him hurt. If a small former cruiserweight like Cunningham was able to have Fury on the canvas then you’ve got to give Abell a decent chance if he can land anything on Fury’s chin. Heck, it won’t take much to put Fury down. Abell might even be able to drop Fury with a glancing blow to the chin. The wind alone from one of Abell’s shots could have Fury staggering about the ring.

Abell weighed in at 241 lb and looked in fantastic shape. If the way a fighter looks won fights, then Abell will be winning by a 1st round knockout on Saturday night because he looks to be the more solid guy. But it’s really telling that Abell has been knocked out in three out of his last five fights. That’s just good old fashioned soft match-making for Fury to be fighting a guy like that. When you pick out an opponent like Abell to fight, it sends the message that you don’t want to take any chance that you could get beaten so you’re taking it easy.



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