Tyson Fury shocks the World

By Michael Byrne - 11/28/2015 - Comments

klitschko#3By Michael Byrne: We worried about the gloves. We worried about the canvas. We worried about the wrapping of the hands. But our worries were seemingly just a by-product of the mind-games between the Klitschko and Fury camps – after a ring-walk accompanied by a fantastic lighting show and a fully-furnished orchestra to play the Ukrainian national anthem, Michael Buffer made the announcements, and referee Tony Weeks gave his instructions, and the first bell sounded.

We were treated to the most entertaining heavyweight title fight in a very long time. Entertaining not due to its action, but due to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitscko’s inability to deal with Tyson Fury in their fight at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. He couldn’t beat him to the jab, he couldn’t get past his feints, he couldn’t bully him in the clinch, and he couldn’t land his power punches. Fury did a masterful job of taking Wlad’s best assets – his jab and his clinch-warfare – away from him. Fury’s feet were fantastic, and his head and hip movement resembled that of a much smaller man.

His arms were swinging like an octopus, and Wlad was too cautious, almost too scared, to commit to any punches. Wlad was gun-shy, and it was a direct consequence of Fury’s size and excellent yet unconventional defensive qualities.

At the halfway point, it had been difficult to give Wlad even a single round; HBO’s Harold Lederman gave him the first only. Whilst trainer Jonathan Banks begged Klitschko to up his activity between rounds, it was Fury who came out with increased aggression at the start of the seventh. We saw a little action in the ninth, as Wlad landed a right hand, and Fury landed a clean, leaping left hook several moments later as Wlad tried to reset. The fight started to heat up in the 11th as Wlad came out with some idea of aggression, but it was still Fury who was landed the higher percentage of punches. Near the end of the round, Fury may have troubled Wlad with a couple of left hooks before Tony Weeks deducted a point from Fury for repeated punching to the back of the head, having given a final warning earlier in the fight.

The twelfth and final round saw a whole lot of clinching as Wladimir tried to up his activity with one last push. It seemed that, at this point, Wlad had finally realized what he was about to give up. He was about to give up 11 years of victory, and the lineal heavyweight championship of the world. Indeed, after a long tallying of scores, Fury took the decision by two scores of 115-112, and one of 116-111. The scorecards were fair, considering German scoring. Wladimir looked like a defeated man whilst the Fury camp celebrated wildly. There had been a feeling whilst watching the fight that surely Wlad would do something at some point. Surely he would start picking up rounds. Or surely he would eventually turn on the aggression on hurt Tyson. No, he didn’t. The last rounds were far too little, too late, and Fury walked out of Dusseldorf as the new heavyweight champion of the world.

In the coming days, weeks, and months, we’ll see exactly how this huge upset will impact the heavyweight division. Wladimir’s reign is over, and now Fury is on top of a potentially wide open division. Anthony Joshua is rising, David Haye is returning, Deontay Wilder has the only other belt and is slated to face Povetkin, and heavyweight boxing is back.



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