By William Mackay: There wasn’t much expected for heavyweight Tyson Fury’s next fight on September 17th. Fury had already been looking over a number of 2nd and 3rd tier heavyweights of limited quality for his first fight since beating Dereck Chisora last July to capture the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. 40-year-old Martin Rogan was considered, as well as an obscure heavyweight Leif Larsen.
However, it’s now looking as if Fury will be facing 32-year-old weak punching journeyman Nicolai Firtha (20-8-1, 8 KO’s) at the King’s Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Firtha is a perfect choice for Fury to get an easy win, and some practice in taking on a tall heavyweight. Firtha is 6’6″ 258 lbs, which makes him around the same height as the Klitschko brothers.
Those are the guys that Fury is looking to fight in the future to get a good payday and try to capture their titles. Firtha resembles the Klitschkos in height only. Apart from that, he’s completely the opposite of the Klitschkos and fights nothing like them. Firtha has no power, no speed and very slow movements. He’s what you call a safe pick, a title belt milking opponent. Fury has nothing to fear from this guy.
He’s the equivalent of Kevin McBride. I suppose if McBride is good enough for heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek to fight, then Firtha is a decent choice for Fury. However, he’s not someone that will be able to give Fury and real challenger or a chance to learn something other than how not to fight. Firtha can’t jab very well, and has a habit of pushing his jab. He doesn’t throw a lot of punches, and is more of a huge target for punches. When he does power shots, they’re weak looking and very slow.
Firtha was beaten recently by Alexander Povetkin by a 10 round decision last December, and looked absolutely horrible in that fight. He also looked terrible in losing to Manuel Quezada, Tye Fields, Franklin Lawrecnce and Neven Pajkic. Firtha seems to be a trial horse for some of the fringe heavyweight contenders to practice on. I can see why he’s so popular. Firtha’s lack of power puts him in demand by heavyweights because they have nothing to fear from him.
Speaking with the Belfast Telegraph, Fury said “Mick [Hennessy] is doing a good job. I’m a fighting a man and I like to stay busy.”
Hennassy is hoping to make the Irish Fury a big star in Ireland, which is why the fight is taking place there. But the choice of opponent isn’t good, and seems to be a case where Fury is regressing instead of moving forward with his career.
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