Weights: Klitschko 245.3, Fury 246.4

By Boxing News - 11/27/2015 - Comments

YouTube video

By Jim Dower: In a real surprise, Tyson Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) came in at an extremely light 246.4 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for his title fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) for their fight on Ssturday night on Sky Box Office and HBO World Championship Boxing from the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Wladimir weighed in at 245.3lbs, which is fairly typical weight for him.

For Fury, 27, the 246.4 represents the third lowest weight of his career, and the lightest he’s been since his fight with Vinny Maddalone three years ago in July 2012. Fury weighed in at 245.5lbs for that fight, and looked really lean with an over-trained appearance to him. You have to hope that Fury hasn’t lost punching power in melting down to 246.

We know that Fury was reportedly near 300 pounds when he started training camp many months ago. He’s lost a great deal of weight in turning his training camp into a mini-fat farm. You just have to hope that he hasn’t lost too much weight because when fighters lose over 40 to 50 pounds of fat in a training camp, they often tend to come into their fights weaker than they previously were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vpYgj7BhO8

Fury was fine at 260 in his last fight against Christian Hammer in February of this year. Before that, Fury was a strong 264 for his one-sided rematch with Dereck Chisora last year in November 2014. Fury used his superior size to toy with the shorter 6’1″ Chisora until he made him quit in the 10th round.

YouTube video

Fury was perfect in that fight and in the Hammer fight. In coming in at 246, Fury might have gone a little overboard in training camp. We do know that Fury’s training camp was slightly extended due to Wladimir suffering a calf injury that caused the fight to be delayed by a month. At the time, Fury said he was pleased because it gave him more time to get over a cold and take off more weight. However, it could be that Fury might have taken too much weight off in getting down to 246. Size is one of the few things that Fury had going for him in this fight. But now that he’s a stringy 246, Fury will find himself not as heavy proportionally as the 6’6″, 245lb Wladimir, and that could hurt him in this fight.

YouTube video

Fury has likely dropped a lot of weight in order to work on his mobility for this fight. He must feel that his best chance of winning is if he can stay on the outside all night long, land a lot of shots, and mover around to keep Wladimir from lowering the boom on him. Wladimir tends to wear down late in his fights, especially if he has to work hard. If Fury’s lighter weight means he can set a fast pace in this fight, then there’s a possibility that he could wear the 39-year-old Klitschko down to score a knockout. Winning by a knockout may be Fury’s best chance of winning the fight, because he’ll be in Germany where Wladimir has never been beaten on points. Wladimir has been knocked out in Germany by Corrie Sanders in 2003, but never beaten by decision.

The Klitschko – Fury start time on Saturday is at 4:45 p.m. ET/PT on HBO in the United States.



Comments are closed.