By Jim Dower: Perhaps the best heavyweight prospect in the heavyweight division, undefeated Tyson Fury (4-0, 4 KOs) will be fighting on the undercard of the WBC super middleweight championship bout between champion Carl Froch and challenger Jermain Taylor on April 25th, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Fury, 20, has breezed through his first opponents since turning pro in December 2008, knocking out all of his opponents inside the distance. At 6’7″ 250, with excellent power in both hands and good boxing skills to go along with them, Fury looks already like the best heavyweight in the UK.
As of late, however, he’s been going back and forth with 2008 Olympic bronze Medalist David Price, who previously defeated Fury at the senior national championships 2006. Though Price, 26, defeated a 17-year-old Fury at the time, Price doesn’t appear to be anywhere near the same class as Fury, which is why I feel that Fury is wasting his time trying to get Price to give him a fight.
It’s still early for Price to be matched up with a big puncher like Fury, because Price has a lot to work on starting with his leaky defense. I saw all of Price’s matches in the Olympics, and he had big problems taking hard shots from his opponents.
In his first Olympic match with Russian Islam Timurziev, Price was rocked with a big hand from him. It wasn’t all big of a shot, yet Price looked hurt. And against the eventual Olympic Gold medal winner, Italian Roberto Cammarelle, Price was hurt a couple of times in the 1st round by right hands to the head.
In the 2nd round, Cammarelle quickly finished him off with a nice right hand that sent Price in between the ropes where he was momentarily stuck. I wouldn’t mind seeing Fury fight Price, but I think Price’s handlers would be crazy to put him in with a big puncher like Fury at this early stage of Price’s career.
This isn’t the 17-year-old that Price defeated three years ago. The 6’7″ Fury has filled out, gotten stronger, quicker and better at defending than he was back then.
It looks as if Fury is intent to go after Price, but I think Fury is going too soft if you ask me. He needs to focus on better fighters than Price, ones like Danny Williams, Matt Skelton, Audley Harrison or Michael Sprott. Those guys are all solid fighters, have a good chin, and respectable power to go along with it.
Fighting a weak chinned fighter like Fury will teach him nothing because he’ll just knock him out in the 1st and 2nd and won’t get the badly needed rounds so that he can get something from the fight.
I think Fury is already much better than all the other heavyweights in the UK, including David Haye, who is more like a cruiserweight than an actual heavyweight. I think Fury would do well to set his sights higher and stop thinking so low in terms of his ability.
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