By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson says he likes the current IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) in part because he was named after him. Tyson, 49, follows Fury’s fights, and he was impressed with his recent victory over 40-year-old Wladimir Klitschko last November in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Tyson notes that Wladimir had been champion for many years until Fury came along and beat him. Tyson hears how some people call the 27-year-old Fury a bum, but he still likes him because he showed that he could beat the best heavyweight of current era in Wladimir.
Fury will be facing Wladimir in a rematch on July 9 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
Fury will need to show that his win over the Ukrainian was not just a fluke thing like many boxing fans believe it to be. Fury, 6’9”, has already dug himself a big hole by putting on 60 pounds of blubber since his victory over Wladimir.
Fury has melted much of the fat off his frame, and he expects to lose the remaining weight by the time he steps foot inside the ring on July 9. However, for anyone that has lost that kind of weight in the past, it leaves you weak and not the person you were before you packed on the pounds.
Besides that, Wladimir had time to study what he did wrong in their previous fight, and he’s undoubtedly going to be a much different fighter. Wladimir had success with straight right hands in that fight, but he was too timid to throw it much of the time. If Wladimir is willing to use his right frequently on July 9, it’s doubtful that Fury will last more than three or four rounds at best. Fury’s too easy to hit, too upright, and too chinny in my view.
“One guy, Tyson Fury, I like to watch him because he has my name and stuff, so, yeah other than that, no. I like Tyson Fury,” said Tyson to skysports.com. “He is the only one that beat him [Wladimir Klitschko] out of the 23 defences. All those other guys were supposed to be tough guys and great fighters, but they didn’t beat him. He won, so what are you gonna say? That this guy is still a bum, but he beat the greatest fighter in the last 15 years. I don’t know, you tell me.”
What Tyson isn’t saying is that Wladimir was 40 when Fury beat him, and he wasn’t throwing any punches. It was not like Fury beat a prime version of Wladimir, and also wasn’t like he was dealing with a lot of return fire. Wladimir looked old, uncoordinated and afraid to let his hands go for fear of being countered by Fury.
Wladimir fought Fury like he was another Corrie Sanders, a fighter that knocked Wladimir out in the 2nd round in 2003. The late southpaw Sanders was too and too powerful for Wladimir. If they had fought a second time, there are no doubts in my mind that he would have knocked Wladimir out a second time. Fury is not Sanders though. He is a slapper, and not a devastating puncher. Fury isn’t a southpaw, and he doesn’t have the blistering hand speed that Sanders possessed.
Wladimir beats Fury no problems in the rematch in my view. The reason he’ll KO Fury is because he knows now the one weapon that beats him is a right hand thrown with mean intentions. As long as Wladimir second guess himself while throwing his right hands, he’ll get Fury out of there quickly.
What Wladimir was doing wrong last November, besides not throwing punches, was throwing his right hand tentatively without full speed. Wladimir was throwing his rights at half speed because he wasn’t sure if he would land it due to Fury pulling backwards at the slightest hint of a punch from Wladimir. Fury was also moving laterally around the ring.
The style that Fury fought would have been perfect for a talent like Deontay Wilder because he would have walked Fury down, committed to a right hand, and then immediately reloaded at close range with another big right hand if he missed with his initial right hand.
Wladimir never learned to do that. He would miss with a right hand against Fury and then fall forward into a clinch. It was really dumb on Wladimir’s part because he clearly didn’t think through the fight in his head ahead of time. I knew exactly how Fury would fight, and I knew that unless Wladimir resisted his urge to hold after a missed punch, he’d be slow dancing with Fury all night long.