By Scott Gilfoid: John Fury, the father of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, went into a rage last Saturday night following his nephew Hughie Fury’s 12 round majority decision loss to WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Hughie came up short on the scorecards in losing by the scores 118-110, 118-110 and 114-114. The judge that scored it a draw, Rocky Young, is from the U.S. The 2 judges that scored the fight 118-110, John Madfis and Terry O’Connor, are from the U.S and the UK respectively.
John Fury rambled on about a number of different things during the post-fight interview. It appears to me that John thought Hughie should get good treatment just because he was fighting in Manchester. Did John want Hughie to get a gift decision just because he was fighting in front of his own boxing fans in Manchester? John comes off like he and Hughie are somehow victims for the loss to Parker, but he didn’t do enough to get the win. When a challenger is trying to take a title off of a champion, he can’t run around the ring for 12 rounds, hoping to steal a victory. Hughie fought like he thought he was the champion instead of the challenger.
John somehow felt the 23-year-old Hughie had done more than enough to win the fight, despite the fact that he’d largely run around the ring, flicking jabs into the air without making contact and holding like no tomorrow. It was so awful to watch. Boxing News 24 could only give Hughie 2 rounds in the fight, and those were arguably charitable ones given just for the sake of giving the beaten guy a couple of rounds. In truth, Hughie did nothing to win any of the rounds given his spoiling tactics. Hughie didn’t come to win the fight against the 25-year-ol Parker. Hughie fought like he wanted the fight to go 12 rounds so he could get lucky and win a decision.
“We thought we won the fight,” said John Fury to IFL TV about last Saturday’s Parker vs. Hughie fight. “What happened tonight shouldn’t happen to a 23-year-old kid. We get this kind of treatment. A 23-year-old steps up and gives it for all his country, and he gets that kind of treatment from his own people,” said John.
The loser of the Parker-Fury fight was the boxing fans that paid to see this eyesore. Hughie ran around the ring like he didn’t want to fight. You’ve got to feel sorry for all the boxing fans that paid to see this. They thought they were going to see a fight, not a track meet. It was a terrible show. Parker rated his 118-110 win. Hughie embarrassed himself with this dreadful performance in my view.
“They tried to ruin my son’s life, and now they’re trying to do it to my nephew,” said John Fury. “We’re not done yet. We’re cleverer than you think. We’ve lost the battle, but we’re going to win the war. If he gets beat fair and square, no problem. The powers that be wan us out of boxing, and they’ve proven that tonight. That was the deal breaker. We’re never going to win,” said John Fury.
Hughie’s promoter Mick Hennessy will be appealing his loss to the World Boxing Organization. We’ll see how far that appeal goes. It would be funny if the WBO orders Parker to give Hughie a rematch.
