By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury’s next fight could be ready to be announced this Tuesday. His trainer/father Peter Fury says Hughie’s next fight on March 26 could be ready to be announced this week.
Hughie, 21, is fighting on the undercard of the middleweight fight between British champion Nick Blackwell and Chris Eubank Jr. at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Hughie (18-0, 10 KOs) is supposed to be fighting a top 15 contender.
Peter says they’re sending contracts out again for Hughie’s opponent to look over and sign. 39-year-old Alexander Ustinov was a name that was mentioned recently as a possibility for Hughie’s next fight, but it’s unclear if he’s the guy they’re sending a contract out to or not.
Like always, they’re having problems finding an opponent for the 6’6” Hughie. I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing drags out to the week of the fight before they finally get a body to cart into the ring for young Hughie to fight.
“Getting closer to finalizing Hughie Fury’s opponent,” said Peter Fury on his Twitter. “Contacts have gone out again & waiting for return. Hopefully Hennessy Sports will announce the fight Tuesday at the presser.”
In Hughie’s last fight, he stopped 37-year-old journeyman Larry Olubamiwo in the 1st round last December. Before you get too lathered up about that big for Hughie, Olubamiwo came into the fight with 17 losses in his last 18 fights. Some win, huh? Hughie might as well have dragged someone in from the audience to fight because that’s about as much good as the win did for him. That was not a quality opponent, and it was little more than a time waster for young Hughie. I don’t even call that a stay busy fight. That’s pure time waster to me, because you don’t get anything from going out there and planting a guy with 17 losses in his last 18 fights like Olubamiwo.
In Hughie’s last five fights, he’s beaten Olubamiwo, Emilio Ezequiel Zarate, George Arias, Andriy Rudenko and Danny Hughes. Those are really poor opponents if you ask me. Having Hughie fight #5 WBO Ustinov would be a major bump up in class, which is why I don’t think they’re going to do that. Ustinov was a potential opponent for Tyson Fury a couple of years ago, and there was major questions whether Fury would be able to pass that test. However, we never got to find out because Fury pulled out of the fight at the last second. It would have been very, very interesting to see if Fury would have won that. I have to assume that he would have lost because Ustinov had dropped a lot of weight recently and was looking 100 percent better than he was in the past.
Hughie lacks punching power. I noticed that he’s been loading up on his shots a lot more in his recent fights against Olubamiwo and Zarate, but he still looks like he’s totally lacking in power. Someone like the 6’7″ Ustinov would be a nightmare for Hughie because the Belorussian fighter has excellent size, nice punching power, and he’s very good at throwing short hooks to the head. I think Ustinov would do a number on Hughie and leave him on the canvas staring at the lights. I doubt that Hughie’s trainer/father Peter Fury would let him fight an advanced guy like Ustinov. I don’t see that happening. My guess is Hughie will be matched up against another stiff so that he can score another fast knockout. I don’t see what Hughie learns from these mismatches, but that’s the kind of opponent I see Hughie being matched against.
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