By Olly Campbell: Almost four years ago, when being sentenced for his part in a violent brawl that left a man blind in one eye, then trainer and father of Tyson, “Gypsy” John Fury, told the judge he was extremely worried about the impact his jailing would have upon his sons boxing career.
At the time Tyson was the English heavyweight champion in preparation to fight Marcelo Nascimento and was just months out from his first victory over Dereck Chisora for the British Heavyweight title. It was February 2011. John Fury was sentenced to 11 years.
Since that day, John’s brother Peter, father to fellow unbeaten heavyweight Hughie, took over the reins of Tyson’s career and has worked incredibly hard to build the fantastic Team Fury set-up they all now enjoy at their new Bolton gym. A huge credit must be given to Peter, who opened the gym in conjunction with Asif Vali, in the huge improvements that he has made with all of the fighters involved with, and working underneath him.
There is a huge emphasis on hard work, discipline and family, yet the straight talking trainer has no room for favorites and is equally as hard on all team members regardless of if they carry the Fury name or not. Also training with the team are Tyson’s younger brother Young Fury, and cousin Dempsey, son of Peter and John’s late brother, Hughie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYYLFzRkvQ
American heavyweight Eddie Chambers and 2-0 prospect Haider Riaz are among the other names completing the set-up.
When he walked out of prison a fortnight ago, John Fury had the gratifying experience of knowing he would see his son fight for the first time in almost five years as a free man. Its evident that the close relationship enjoyed by the brothers, means that John has been welcomed back into the camp with open arms by Peter, and barring British Board regulations, is as involved as much as he can be. It remains to be seen if he will be granted a trainers license again, however.
It must be fantastic for John to see the work his brother has done with Tyson Fury, who after the destruction of Christian Hammer last week, reaffirmed his status as the best heavyweight in the world currently without a world title. As WBO mandatory for Wladimir Klitschko and a fight with WBC champion Deontay Wilder in the mix, it’s clear that 2015 could well be Tyson Fury’s year, and the energy and excitement bubbling around the camp must be palpable.
One of the biggest assets Team Fury have is their straight talking, no-nonsense attitude. From Peter Fury down, they tell it like it is and do not shy away from fights. This is why Tyson Fury signed TWICE to fight David Haye, a concussive puncher who many picked to beat him, only to find it was the supposed favorite who was the man pulling out. It is this very same attitude that has Tyson insisting that the man most see as the tougher champion, Wladimir Klitschko, is the fight he wants next. A safer move would be the more winnable fight against American Deontay Wilder. Yet Team Fury don’t do safe.
An announcement should be made on just what Tyson’s next move will be soon.
Yet the standout performance from the camp recently has not gone unnoticed in trade circles and that was the absolute boxing clinic young Hughie Fury put on in Monte Carlo on the Golovkin undercard against dangerous Ukrainian fighter Andriy Rudenko.
This is one of the shining examples of the Team Fury attitude. For a young fighter of just 20 years old going into his 15th contest after a nine month lay-off, this was an extremely dangerous fight for them to take. Peter’s assertions he didn’t want his son to have an easy ride were backed up fully when this match-up was announced. This writer was certainly not alone in thinking this was a very risky move for the young Fury to take. In his only defeat beforehand, Rudenko had made capable Australian Lucas Browne look quite average at times when he dropped a decision to him in August last year.
In the fight with Fury, it was Rudenko who was made to look average however, as the 20 year old ran rings around him.
There can be no doubt after his exceptional performance in Monte Carlo, that Hughie Fury, along with cousin Tyson, is destined for an extremely bright future under his father’s tutelage, and is surely a future star of the division in the making?
Who knows what the future holds for the rest of the stable and what exciting new additions will join the team over the coming months and years?
In the time since his brother was jailed, Peter Fury has nurtured a close-knit, disciplined camp of talented fighters that are now just a hairs breadth away from winning their first world title. A belt they hope will become the first of many.
What is for sure is that as John Fury walked back into the fold in the build up to the Christian Hammer fight and took a look around, he would have been bursting with pride at the many enormous achievements of his family in his absence. Now at last they are back together and both brothers are on the same page, hopefully we can look to the development of the youngsters in the team and enjoy many more successes from the Team Fury fighters in the future.
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