By William Mackay: Undefeated British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (16-0, 11 KO’s) thinks he can learn a thing or two from former Olympic Gold Medalist and former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis in developing some skills.
Fury said this to the Mirror.co.uk: “Lennox was an outstanding heavyweight with an incredible jab and I can learn a lot from him. I’ll be watching DVDs of him because, although I have a good jab I know I can get better.”
Fury shouldn’t pat himself on the back quite so much. His jab is really very average at best. I wouldn’t call Fury’s jab a good one, not even close. It’s more of a pawing jab if anything. And while Lewis did have a good jab, I actually rate Wladimir Kltischko and Larry Holmes as having a better jab than Lewis. Also, heavyweight contender Kevin Johnson has a very good jab that is in the same league as Lewis’. But I see Wladimir’s jab as being much better than Lewis’. There’s no comparison really. Wladimir really hits hard with his jab. I’m wondering why Fury can’t see that with his own eyes? I guess he’s just looking for someone else to look up to.
“Lewis conquered the best in the world and I know I can do the same.” I’m not sure if Fury can conquer the best in the UK, let alone the world. He does have age on his side at 23. At a similar age, Lewis wasn’t even fighting as a pro. However, once Lewis did turn pro, he steadily moved forward with his career against better and better opposition unlike Fury. When Lewis was at the same level as Fury in terms of fights, Lewis was already facing the hard hitting Mike “Hercules” Weaver and Gary Mason, two very good heavyweights. Those guys are leagues better the guys that Fury has faced, and that’s one of the reasons why Lewis kept improving. He wasn’t going backwards once he turned pro – it was always against continually better fighters.
What Fury can’t learn from Lewis is how to throw with his kind of power. You either have that kind of power or you don’t, and Fury clearly isn’t the same kind of puncher that Lewis was. Lewis could punch big with either hand from his amateur days, so by the time he turned pro, he already had all the offensive tools in place. He just needed someone to teach him to use his jab more often and to tie up his shorter opponents when they would try to crowd him. That’s where trainer Emanuel Steward came in and really helped take Lewis’ career to the next level.
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