By Nate Anderson: No disrespect meant towards newcomer heavyweight David Haye, but I’m beginning to think that unbeaten prospect Tyson Fury (6-0, 6 KOs) might be the best heavyweight in all of the UK. I realize that the 20-year-old Fury hasn’t really beaten anyone of note other than Lee Swaby, Matthew Ellis and a handful of other low quality fighters. However, it’s the manner that Fury is dispatching them, the ease that he’s taking them out that is so impressive and what makes me feel that Fury could be the best there is.
In his last fight, Fury destroyed a 6’7” Scott Belshaw in two quick rounds, knocking him down with body shots and dominating every second of the action with jabs, hooks to the midsection and right hands to the head.
Even though Fury has fought only six times, his promoter is already moving him ahead for bigger and better things at a steady pace, and looking at British heavyweight champion Danny Williams as a potential opponent at some point in the near future.
To be honest, there’s really not a whole heck of a lot of competition standing in the way of Fury being the best of the heavyweights in the UK. Below, I’ve listed who I personally feel are the best of the current heavyweights in the UK:
David Haye: as of now, Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) is the heavyweight that is considered to be the best in the UK despite his lack of experience fighting legitimate competition. However, I think Haye isn’t near as good as many people think he is. Since moving up to heavyweight, the 215 pound Haye looks much slower than he was as a cruiserweight and didn’t look all that impressive in his 5th round TKO win over Monte Barrett in November 2008.
The punches that Haye dropped Barrett with didn’t look all that big and it seemed that Barrett looked scared and wasn’t right for the fight. However, I surprised at how easy it was for the 6’3” Barrett to land his shots against Haye, because it seemed effortless.
Haye looked smaller than Barrett, who is a medium sized heavyweight. I think Haye would have a tough time landing anything against the 6’9” Fury, but even if he did, I doubt that it would hurt Fury. The opportunities for Haye to land would be much less than for Fury, because of Haye’s smaller size.
This would mean that Haye would have a lot of pressure to try and take Fury out with the few opportunities that he has before Fury starts landing his own big shots. It would be a race against time for Haye, who has a poor chin and will likely fold at some early on when he’s hit by something bit from Fury.
The main thing here is that I can see Fury taking Haye’s shots for 12 rounds, but I can’t see Hay being able to take Fury’s punches for long without folding.
Danny Williams: at one time in his career Williams was a great puncher capable of knocking most opponents with his big shots. What made Williams so good was that he could throw sustained combinations for close to one minute before tiring out. However, by then many of his opponents would be mowed down by his big shots.
Now, though, Williams, 35, is unable to throw combinations like that anymore and has become a punch and grab fighter. Williams needs frequent rest periods so that he can regroup his energy. This obviously wouldn’t work against Fury, who would stay on the outside in the same way that Vitali Klitschko did in his win over Williams and jab him from the outside. Although Williams has a great jab of his own, it would come up short on the taller Fury.
Derek Chisora: He’s got some talent and decent power. However, what makes me think that Chisora would be beaten by Fury is that Chisora fights lazy a lot of the time and seems to push his right hand rather than throwing it with conviction. Chisora is kind of fat and his best weapon his jab. Unfortunately, you need more than a jab to beat a fighter like Fury. I see Chisora taking a beating by Fury and perhaps getting knocked out.
Sam Sexton: Sam doesn’t have the stamina nor the chin to beat a fighter like Fury. Sexton would be jabbing and moving in the early rounds, but I see Fury picking him off as he moves around the ring and easily piling up a lead. By the 8th round, Sexton will be a spent force and will be a sitting duck for Fury’s big right hand and left hook.
Martin Rogan: This would be an interesting fight for three to four rounds, but eventually I think Fury would be too big and too powerful for Rogan to compete with. Rogan is 38, and only 6’2”. He’d been giving away seven inches in height to Fury. Now that may not sound like a lot to some people, but it would be a lot in this case because Rogan doesn’t use his jab much and tends to get nailed by his opponent’s jabs. I see Fury staying on the outside and teeing off on Rogan until he knocks him out.
David Price: The 2008 Bronze Medalist for Britain has a chin that looks like it’s not made for the professional ranks. Price was beaten in the Olympics where he was hurt twice in his bouts. In the pros, it’s going to be much worse because of Price’s inability to absorb big shots. I see Fury breaking Price down and taking him out with a big right hand to the head.
Comments are closed.