By Nate Anderson: As I was watching a replay of 6’9” Tyson Fury (5-0, 5 KOs) make quick work of Mathew Ellis in a 1st round TKO last Saturday night at the York Hall, in Bethnal Green, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities that Fury has with Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KOs). Naturally, there’s a huge difference between the two fighters as Williams is only 6’2” compared to the 6’9” height of Fury, but I’m referring to the way that Fury attacks his opponents with all out punching attacks.
Obviously, some boxing fans aren’t quite on board yet with the talent of Fury and see him as an British version of Tye Fields, a fighter known for attacking his opponents with all out punching in his bouts, and who up until recently when was knocked out in the 1st round by Monte Barrett, had faced mostly soft opposition.
However, Fury is nothing like Fields, because Fury’s got obvious talent that you can see with your eyes. He also has a good amateur background which Fields never had. The fighter that Fury is most like is Williams, who this past weekend has set the world on fire with a 12-round easy decision of former light middleweight champion Winky Wright.
What makes Fury so much like Williams is that Fury has incredibly long arms which he uses to throw massive amounts of punches from every angle whether at a distance or in close. Fury just keeps raining the punches down on his opponents and what makes it so difficult for them to take the shots is his huge size.
His punches are very deceiving because they seem almost weak, but because of his huge height and reach, he’s able to get a lot of leverage on his shots that help him produce knockouts. Like Williams, Fury is benefited greatly by his long arms, which allows him to punch from the outside or inside, making it tough on his opponents.
Fury’s shots often come in from the side in long looping arcs that his opponents have a difficult time predicting because of his long arms. What happens is that they don’t see the shots coming because of the angle of Fury’s delivery and are got by surprise and end up getting hurt by his shots.
Against Ellis last Saturday night, Fury used a series of short punches on the inside to produce the first knockdown. Ellis, 35, was expecting that kind of power from Fury, and was in the process of trying to smother him when Fury got him with the short right and left hands that put Ellis down.
It looked like a classic combo from Paul Williams the way that Fury delivered the shots. I can’t see too many heavyweights that would have been able to take those shots that Fury knocked Ellis out with, least of all David Haye.
When Ellis got to his feet, Fury chopped him down immediately with a pulverizing right hand. It was like Fury was breaking rocks with a big sledgehammer the way that he threw the right hand shot that finished off Ellis.
The knockout power that Fury has in his arsenal is perhaps the main difference between him and Williams, because Paul doesn’t hit particularly hard compared to some other welterweights/light middleweights and middleweights do.
Fury, however, looks to have major punching power, but he doesn’t always use it because he seems more concerned with throwing combinations rather than shooting for knockouts. The combinations end producing the knockouts by themselves because of his huge height, reach and because of the leverage he tends to get on his shots.
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