By William Mackay: In a fight that very well end badly for the British fighter, unbeaten heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (14-0, 10 KO’s) will be facing former IBF/WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (49-7, 40 KO’s) on April 16th on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey fight at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England.
Up until now, the 22-year-old Fury has been facing 2nd tier and 3rd tier fodder and not always looked good. Fury’s trainer Emanuel Steward must be thinking that the 38-year-old Rahman is vulnerable, because this seems like a really dumb move. With Fury going life and death with the likes of John McDermott, this doesn’t look good for Fury because Rahman is clearly on a higher level than McDermott. Fury has been carefully managed since struggling against McDermott, beating Rich Power, Zack Page and Marcelo Luiz Nascimento in his last three fights.
You’d like to have seen Fury facing better guys than this going into a bout against a fighter like Rahman. Whether Fury wins or gets wiped out by Rahman, this won’t affect his title challenge against British/Commonwealth heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora. It obviously won’t help Fury’s confidence any if he’s badly exposed and knocked out by Rahaman. Fury hasn’t shown any ability to get out of the way of head shots. He often turns his head to the side when he sees punches coming to his head. He doesn’t move his head and rarely blocks any shots.
Against a big puncher like Rahman, you have to have either great movement, excellent defensive skills or an excellent jab to keep him on the outside. Fury has none of those things. He’s just an oversized inside fighter. The only hope that Fury has in this fight is if Rahman is shot enough for Fury to win. If Rahman has any of his old power left, which I think he does, he knocks Fury out.
Rahman was stopped by Wladimir Klitschko in a 7th round TKO loss in December 2008. Since then, Rahman has stopped Clinton Boldridge, Shannon Miller, Damon Reed and Marcus McGee.
I see Fury getting brutally knocked out in this fight. Rahman is deadly when facing tall heavyweights without any defense of head movement. This is going to be similar to Rahman’s 4th round TKO of Kali Meehan. I see Meehan as a much better fighter than Fury, and Rahman totally destroyed him.
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