Tony Thompson: Fury would be an easier fight than David Price

By Boxing News - 03/25/2014 - Comments

thompson3By Scott Gilfoid: #8 IBF, #15 WBC heavyweight contender Tony “The Tiger” Thompson (39-4, 26 KO’s) doesn’t think too much of UK fighter Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KO’s) after watching some of his fights, and he sees the 6’9” British heavyweight as an easier mark than David Price, who Thompson twice destroyed in 2013 in quick knockouts. Thompson doesn’t see much talent from Fury, and he thinks he’s vulnerable to pretty much any heavyweight they put him in with due to his lack of ability.

Fury has a fight coming up in four months against Derek Chisora (20-4, 13 KO’s) in a WBO heavyweight eliminator bout at the Phones 4u Arena in Manchester, UK. However, after that fight, should Fury win, he’s going to have a lot of time in between then and the time he gets an eventual world title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, because the Ukrainian champion has another WBO mandatory challenger in Kubrat Pulev who he has to fight later this year. As such, Fury will be sitting around for a long, long time waiting for his title shot against Wladimir.

We’re probably talking about early to mid-2015 before Fury faces Wladimir. With that much time off, Fury can either sit around and get fat again or he can stay busy and take on a guy like Thompson. Of course, another alternative for Fury is for him to continue to take safe fights against the guys he’s been padding his record with like Joey Abell, Kevin Johnson, Vinny Maddalone, Martin Rogan or Steve Cunningham.

“He [Fury] is a loudmouth guy, he’s talking his way into big fights and hasn’t done anything,” Thompson said via ESPN. “At least David Price’s people had the gumption and balls to put him in with a live heavyweight. Tyson has never been in the ring with anyone like me. All of his opponents pose a threat to him simply because he can’t fight…If [Steve] Cunningham was a legitimate heavyweight he would have stopped Fury easily…I think it’s an easier fight than the David Price fight.”

If you look at how Cunningham had Fury on his backside last year in their fight in April, I think it’s pretty clear that Fury doesn’t have the talent to beat a big guy like Tony Thompson. I think Fury would get badly exposed by Thompson, and beaten for the first time in his career. But I also highly doubt that Fury’s management will ever give a dangerous guy like Thompson a chance to fight him, even though a fight between him and Thompson would be good preparation for a fight against Wladimir.

Even if Thompson whips Fury, he’d still get the title shot against Wladimir due to him having beaten Chisora in the WBO eliminator bout. It’s a win-win situation for Fury to fight Thompson.

I think Fury would have to be dragged literally kicking and screaming into the ring to fight a talent like “Tony Tiger” Thompson, because Fury would be facing a guy so much better than him.



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