By Sean McDaniel: Moments after stopping Big John McDermott in the 9th round on Friday night, unbeaten 6’7” Tyson Fury (11-0, 9 KO’s) had this to say about the fight and his future in an interview with Sky Sports:
“I’m really happy first four rounds I was behind the jab,” Fury told Sky Sports. “But the heat in here was very, very hot and I was knackered. I was very tired and my legs were very tired. But there’s something inside me that thought I’m not quitting here – and I knew I had the power to knock him out. Fair play to John McDermott for fighting me again but I knew I could do it. There’s a lot of people who thought I’d lose this fight, that I’ve only had 10 fights, and I’m only young, but I knew I could do it. Any heavyweight out there I know I can beat them.”
Fury looked anything but impressive in stopping the hefty McDermott. Fury, after looking sloppy and totally spent through the first seven rounds, he came on in the last part of the 8th to put McDermott down with a hard combination. Fury then put McDermott away in the 9th, scoring two knockdowns in the round.
However, there was nothing in Fury’s performance that would suggest that he can beat “any heavyweight out there.” Sadly, as bad as Fury looked, he would likely not be able to beat even the heavyweights in his own country and on the ones that were fighting on the same fight card as him on Friday night.
Although Fury just turned 22 earlier this month, he doesn’t look any better than he was a year ago. Indeed, Fury looks worse now than he was back then, because he’s putting on weight and filling out a bit too quickly for his own good.
The 270 that Fury entered the ring with on Friday was a career high for him, and rather than enable him to dominate McDermott, it seemed to cause Fury to run out of gas quicker. Fury did okay for a couple of rounds against McDermott, but then started looking exhausted and pretty well spent as the rounds went by one after another.
Meanwhile, McDermott, like in their previous fight last year, landed right hands at will and seeming to never miss with his shots. If Fury hadn’t come on in the 8th round, there’s a good change that McDermott would have won the fight by a decision. I doubt he would have knocked Fury out, because Tyson has a good chin. However, I think McDermott would have won a decision over Fury and sent him into retirement.
You got to like Fury for his confidence in saying that he beat any heavyweight in the division. But I think its false confidence. He has to know that he doesn’t have the skills yet to beat fighters like the Klitschko brothers and Alexander Povetkin.
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