Wladimir Klitschko: I’ll end Tyson Fury’s reign on 7/9

By Boxing News - 06/16/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) says he’s bothered that he’s given Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) a lot of attention worldwide after losing to him by a close 12 round unanimous decision last November in Dusseldorf, Germany. Fury now holds Wladimir’s IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles, and he openly flaunts his disregard for the belts by saying they don’t matter to him. Wladimir wants to beat the living daylights out of Fury and shut his trap once and for all in their rematch next month.

Klitschko, 40, says he’s going to knock Fury off his perch next month by beating him in their rematch on July 9 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Well, I hate to say it but I do believe that Wladmir is going to give the 27-year-old Fury a thrashing he won’t soon forget on July 9. Contrary to what Fury has been saying lately about him not caring if he loses to Wladimir in their rematch, I think he will care and I think it will bug the heck out of him.

Fury has never been beaten since he turned pro in 2008, and it’s going to be a major buzz-kill for him to get whipped by Wladimir. What will make it worse for Fury is losing to Wladimir in front of all his British fans. That obviously will make it far, far worse for Fury, because he’ll be getting beaten in front of his own loyal British fans rather than in a faraway place like Germany.

Heck, if I were Fury, I would have eagerly agreed to fight Wladimir in Germany or wherever he wanted the fight to be staged rather than insisting on having it take place in the UK. It’s going to look bad for Fury if/when he gets whipped by Wladimir in front of all his fans. Besides that, I think it’s a seriously dumb move on Fury’s part to fight at the 21,000 seat Manchester Arena in the UK rather than in Germany in a 50,000+ seat stadium. Do the math. Would you rather fight in a 21,000 seat stadium or a stadium with a capacity over 50,000? I’m just wondering whether the Fury’s thought that one out clearly. They should have staged the fight where it would bring in the most cash, especially if there’s a very real threat of losing the contest.

“With close friends at my side, I’m as strong as 200 men,” said Wladimir on his Twitter.

I believe that Wladimir is going to waste no time in going out and starching Fury in the first five rounds on July 9. Wladimir fought at only 25% capacity in the first fight against Fury last November in my opinion. I think we’re going to see a much different Wladimir in the rematch with him taking the governor off his engine and going after the 6’9” Fury.

I don’t know what Fury can do to survive in this fight other than to run and hold. Fury will certainly be looking to run around the ring in the rematch, but I don’t see that helping him keep the angry and quite powerful 6’6” Wladimir off him. Fury didn’t face the real Wladimir in the last fight. This time, I think we’re going to see the 90s version of Wladimir, with him taking his fighting style back to an earlier version of himself before he added late trainer Emanuel Steward to his team.

Steward changed Wladimir’s fighting style to make him more defensive with a lot of holding and moving. Wladimir’s fighting style before Steward emerged on the scene was pure offense with tons of power punching and zero clinching. Wladimir very rarely clinched before Steward took over as his trainer. When Wladmir was in close to his opponents, he would throw power shots and fight his way back to the outside rather than looking to clinch and have the referee break him and his opponents apart.

Yeah, it’s got to really bother Wladimir to have to hear Fury opening his yap 24/7, bragging about his win over him, and crowing like he did something special. The fact of the matter is Wladimir basically let Fury win the fight by not letting his hands go. Fury didn’t win the fight. Wladimir lost it. In other words, Wladimir ALLOWED Fury to win it.

A limited fighter like Fury could never beat a talent like Wladimir unless he did something incredibly stupid to just let him win by not throwing punches or dropping his guard and giving him the opportunity to tee off on his chin. Fury got the win, but he didn’t really win in my view. Wladimir let him win by not throwing his punches. This time, however, we’re going to see an earlier version of Wladimir when he gets inside the ring with Fury on July 9th, and I see this going really badly for him.

There’s really not much that Fury can do to prevent the inevitable from happening when he faces Wladimir in this fight. If Fury runs, Wladimir will track him down and blast him apart. If Fury tries to hold, Wladimir will likely left hook him to pieces like he did against Derrick Jefferson in his 2nd round knockout in 2001. Jefferson, 6’6”, was a guy about as big as Fury, but with much better punching power.

When Jefferson got in close with Wladimir on one occasions, he was smashed down with a flurry of shots from Wladimir. Jefferson wound up getting knocked down three times in that fight. That version of Wladimir would have made mincemeat out of Fury last November. It wouldn’t have been a fight. I see Wladimir going back to that earlier level when he faces Fury next month, and I don’t see this as even being a fight.

To be sure, Fury can stick his lead left arm out and scratch at the air to try and scare Wladimir like he did last time, but I don’t see it working. Wladimir will ignore Fury’s pawing shots, and go after his melon with right hand bombs and huge left hooks.

The aftermath of the rematch between Wladimir and Fury will be one of a lot of second guessing on Team Fury’s part. I think they’re going to be talking about a lot of what ifs and wishing that they had come out firing on all eight cylinders instead of using the same tired tricks from the first fight.