By Jim Dower: Tyson Fury returns to the ring on February 28th against journeyman Daniel Peret (15-20, 6 KOs) at the Norwich Showground, Norwich, in Norfolk. Fury will likely have little trouble with the 35-year-old Peret, who’s coming into this fight with five losses out of his last seven fights. At best, Peret will probably be little more than a punching bag for as long as the fight lasts.
Peret, 6’0″ 258, is known for having an excellent chin and being able to take a substantial amount of punishment without going down. Unfortunately for him, his main weakness is his soft midsection. That’s bad news for him, because Fury punches best when he’s throwing huge hooks to the midsection. Oh, Fury can punch well to the head, but he seems especially gifted when unloading big punches to the body.
At 6’7″ 250, the mammoth British heavyweight Tyson Fury (2-0, 2 KOs) may already be the best heavyweight in Britain at the early age of 20, even without throwing a punch at any of his fellow British compatriots. With an impressive amateur background before turning pro, Fury has made a lot of noise since turning pro with two quick knockouts of his first two opponents.
The opposition, of course, has been soft as you would expect for a fighter with so few fights as him, but it’s the form that he’s shown in mowing down his opponents that has caught the eye of so many boxing fans and writers alike.
It’s difficult to say for certain or not due to his limited competition, but Fury already looks better than British heavyweights Matt Skelton, Audley Harrison and David Haye. David might be the best known of the heavyweights in Britain right now, but I see Fury as being a level above him due to his huge size, great punching power and his quick feet.
Fury hardly had time to show off his skills in his first fight, a 1st round TKO over Bela Gyongyosi in December 2008, with the end coming quickly after the young Fury opened up with a barrage of tremendous body shots and quickly took out the badly overmatched Gyongyosi at 2:14 of the 1st.
In Fury’s next bout, he was matched up with a German power puncher by the name of Marcel Zeller. Not wasting any time, Fury attacked Zeller hard in the opening round, hammering him to the body and head with hooks and uppercuts. Zeller seemed to realize that he had no chance at the center of the ring and immediately backed up to the ropes to try and wait out Fury’s attack. Zeller stayed there for the remainder of the round absorbing tremendous punishment in particular to the body.
By the end of the round, Zeller’s midsection was a bright red from the monstrous body shots he’d been hit with. Though Fury doesn’t look all that muscular for a fighter, he’s naturally incredibly strong and seems to be able to get a lot of leverage out of his big 6’7″ frame. The shots that Zeller was getting hit with would have dropped a fighter less durable and in shape than he was.
In the 2nd round Fury continued blasting a battle shocked Zeller against the ropes with big hooks to the body and head. Zeller tried attacking but was unable to make contact with Fury, as the big giant backed away from his attacks.
In the 3rd, Fury rocked Zeller with a series of big right hands, and after hurting him, Fury landed a storm of punches to the head causing the referee to stop the fight with Zeller still on his feet but hurt.
With the skills that Fury has going for him, you can expect that he’ll be pushed ahead a lot quicker than the average heavyweight.
At 20, he looked more polished than most heavyweights in the division. Best of all, he has sound defensive skills, and escapes well when attacked. This is a good thing, because when he eventually steps it up against a better heavyweight in the division like David Haye, he’ll need to be able to get away when attacked hard.
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