By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Barry Hearn is hoping IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) defeats Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) in their rematch next month on July 9 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Hearn wants Fury and his fighter IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) to face each other at the end of this year in November in a mega-fight.
Hearn says he still wants to make the Joshua-Fury fight even if he loses to Wladimir on July 9. He still sees the Joshua vs. Fury fight as a huge fight no matter what the outcome is for Fury’s fight with the 40-year-old Wladimir.
Hearn believes Joshua is already the No.1 fighter in the heavyweight division, and he sees him holding down that status for the next 10 years. I don’t know if it makes much sense to crown a fighter the best when they’ve only fought Dillian Whyte and Charles Martin, and a bunch of 3rd tier fighters. I think Hearn is getting a little ahead of himself with his thoughts on his young fighter.
“Tyson had an amazing result to beat Klitschko, but you have to say that Klitschko only threw five punches in the entire fight,” said Hearn. “If the real Klitschko turns up, Tyson could have a problem,” said Hearn to skysports.com. “If Klitschko is completely shot, Fury will win again, and I really hope that he does. If Klitschko turns up, he could make Tyson look silly. We have to wait and see, but win or lose there is a massive fight with Anthony Joshua. Win or lose.”
I hate to say it, but I think Hearn is right about Klitschko having thrown five punches in the entire fight with Fury last November. That wasn’t Klitschko at his best. He has huge room for improvement in the rematch compared to the last time he fought, and I don’t think Fury is going to be able to handle an improved version of Wladimir. I mean, I don’t even know if you can call it an improved Wladimir, because he would merely be fighting like he normally does if he lets his hands go. However, my advice for Wladimir would be for him to resist completely the urge to hold Fury when he’s in close. Wladimir needs to work on the inside instead of holding. I think Wladimir knocks Fury out if he throws even 20 punches per round.
If he needs a good heavyweight to pattern himself after, then he needs to study some of Deontay Wilder’s fights. If you look at the way Deontay fights, he doesn’t hold when he’s in close after throwing a punch. Deontay likes to first short punches on the inside to hurt his opponents. When Deontay has a guy that is holding him in a clinch, he’ll hit him as hard as he can rapidly with right and left hands to get him to let go. There’s nothing weak about those punches.
Deontay puts everything he has in throwing shots while being held. In Deontay’s fight against Kelvin Price in 2012, he staggered Price with a series of clubbing right hands while being held by him in a clinch. When Price finally let go of him and staggered across the ring, Deontay then poleaxed him with a tremendous right hand to the head. This is how Wladimir needs to fight Fury. He can’t just hold him like he did last time, and he cannot afford to be afraid to throw a right hand for fear of missing.
“I would rather he won, because it’s even bigger. It’s an 80,000 sell out at Wembley, it’s a million pay-per-view buys, plus the global, because it’s a great fight to watch,” said Hearn about Fury. “I think Fury is made for Joshua, because of the way he boxes, the way he stands.”
I think Hearn shouldn’t count his chicks before they’ve hatched, because Joshua might not get past his opponent Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) this Saturday night on June 25 in their fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. It’s not a given that Joshua will win that fight, because he’s facing a knockout artist with better size than him at 6’7”, 255lbs, and with equal punching power.
If Breazeale isn’t quite as hard of a puncher than Joshua, he’s close enough for it not to matter. I mean, if Breazeale is able to land some of his big shots in this fight, I don’t see Joshua being able to take the blows for long without dropping for the ten count.
When you’re talking about a guy as big and as strong as Breazeale, it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t quite have the same power as Joshua or Deontay Wilder. The reality is he hits plenty hard enough to do the same job if he lands. I see Breazeale as a blue-collar guy just like Joe Smith Jr., a fighter with very good punching power but not the hype surrounding him like other fighters.