By Scott Gilfoid: The injured IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) took to social media on Friday to confirm that his rematch against former world champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) will be taking place on October 29, as previously reported by Wladimir’s manager Bernd Boente earlier this week. Fury vs. Klitschko will be staged at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
Fury is still rehabbing an injured ankle that he hurt while training for the Klitschko rematch. The injury is supposed to keep the 6’9” Fury from being able to train hard for six weeks. That’s too bad for Fury because he still needs to burn off a lot of the flab that he put on after his win over Klitschko last November.
Fury kind of let his weight get out of control after that victory. He came into the training camp for the rematch against Klitschko with a noticeable pot belly, which made him look for older than his 27 years.
To look at Fury at the kickoff press conference, you might assume that you were looking at a 40-year-old man that had led sedentary lifestyle. Whether the effort that Fury is undergoing to burn off the lard will leave him too weak to put up much of a fight in the rematch against the hard hitting 6’6” Klitschko remains to be seen.
16 weeks Saturday till I blast @Klitschko spark out, #&still!!!! Can't wait #manchesteroctober29 #letshaveit pic.twitter.com/NrRTAuijxT
— #Gypsyking (@Tyson_Fury) July 7, 2016
One benefit from all this is that it could give Fury an excuse to throw out to the press afterwards if he gets whipped by Wladimir. Instead of admitting that he was beaten by the better man who came up with the right game plan for the rematch, Fury can always blame his loss on all the weight that he had to trim off in order to get in fighting shape.
It gives Fury the chance to blame the loss on him having taken off too much fat during training camp. I would like to think Fury won’t stoop to the level of making excuses in the aftermath of the fight, but my guess it he might just do that.
Klitscchko, 40, is totally committed to avenging his defeat from last November. He says he won’t accept defeat. Wladimir feels he’s got the knowledge this time to deal Fury his first loss of his career. Wladimir has gone about it in a scientific manner in breaking down the fight to see exactly what he did wrong. He plans on correcting all the mistakes he made the last time when he gets the 6’9” Fury into the ring on October 29.
A loss for Fury in this fight will put a damper on his big money unification fights against IBF champion Anthony Joshua and WBC champ Deontay Wilder. The fights can still happen, but they won’t be unification matches and Fury’s cut of the cash might not be quite as good without him being the IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion. Going into a fight against Wilder or Joshua as a mere challenger is a much different story than if you have three world title belts in your possession.