Fury-Belshaw: Can Tyson Keep Winning?

By Boxing News - 05/20/2009 - Comments

By William Mackay: This Saturday night heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury (5-0, 5 KOs) is facing a stern test in fighting the tough Scott Belshaw (10-1, 7 KOs) in an eight round bout at the Coliseum, in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Belshaw, 24, is tall at 6’7”, and close enough to Fury in height to make some boxing experts wonder whether Fury will get out of this fight in one piece.

However, Fury has the better power, work rate and hand speed than Belshaw and is expected to be able to continue with his unbeaten streak for a little while longer. In the fights that I’ve seen Belshaw in he’s looked raw, a primitive slugger that tends to fade very quickly in his fights. Belshaw is dangerous for the first three to four rounds before fading quickly after that.

Belshaw doesn’t have the hand speed or ring movement that Fury has going for him, but Belshaw’s chin does appear to be rather sturdy. It’s going to need to be for him to escape the eight-round bout without getting knocked out and ending up as Fury’s sixth knockout in six fights.

Fury, 20, has looked good in his last two fights, beating Lee Swaby and Matthew Ellis inside the distance. Fury seems to go on the attack early and then proceeds to bludgeon his opponents into submission with big clubbing hooks to the head and body.

Fury looks great for the most part while he’s on offense being able to throw his big shots against his smaller opponents. However, Fury hasn’t looked so good when he’s being forced to back up while being pressured by his opponents.

In those circumstances, Fury looks amateurish, sometimes turning his back on his opponents and covering up in a fetal ball while they freely pound him a few times before he gets hit wits about him and grabs them in a clinch. Clearly, that’s something that Fury has to work on if he wants to get to the next level and challenge for the Commonwealth title in the near future.

Having seen the recent Commonwealth heavyweight title match last Friday night, I think Fury is a long ways away from being as good as Sam Sexton and Martin Rogan, both of whom I see being too skilled for Fury and would likely knock him out. Fury has mentioned Sexton as a fighter that he would like to meet up with in the future, but I wouldn’t rush things if I were Fury, as he doesn’t look in the same league as the 24-year-old Sexton.

This could change in 2-4 years from now as the 20-year-old Fury matures as a fighter, but as of now, Fury doesn’t look ready to face either of them. I think Fury has the foundations to be better someday than Sexton and Rogan, but at this time Fury still hasn’t matured enough as a fighter to beat those two fighters.

I certainly like the way that Fury is able to fight on the outside or the inside, where he tends to throw a lot of punches for a heavyweight. Fury looks almost as skilled as Sexton, but he doesn’t have the jab, movement and ring smarts that Sexton showed in his fight with Rogan. As for Rogan, I think he’s too strong for Fury and would likely wear him down with big punches and take Fury out.



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