By John F. McKenna (McJack): Undefeated British heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (17-0, 12 KO’s) has elected to vacate his British and Commonwealth heavyweight title belts to pursue a world title fight.
Fury was quoted by Sky Sports saying:
“It’s been an honor to have won and held both the British and Commonwealth belts, but I’m now currently number seven in the world and it’s time to move on.
“I’m really excited about my future plans as I’m doing things differently and currently training like a Trojan in pursuit of becoming heavyweight champion of the world.”
Fury won a unanimous decision last July over Dereck Chisora (15-2, 9 KO’s). Ironically Chisora was chosen to fight World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40 KO’s) on February 18 in Munich, Germany. Chisora lost a highly controversial decision to Robert Helenius (17-0, 11 KO’s). Neary everyone who witnessed the fight, which took place in Helenius homeland of Finland, thought that Chisora deserved the decision. Vitali Klitschko was impressed enough by Chisora’s performance to tab him as his next opponent.
At 6’9” and 255 pounds Fury definitely has the size to compete with the Klitschko’s who have dominated boxing for the past seven years. Tyson has yet to demonstrate however, that he has the mental discipline to get himself into the kind of condition needed to take on either of the Klitschko’s.
Fury may have to take on fellow Brit undefeated David Price (12-0, 10 KO’s) before achieving his dream of a shot at the heavyweight championship. Price in his last fight on January 21 scored a TKO over veteran fighter John McDermott. The referee stopped the fight after just 73 seconds to save McDermott from further damage after he had been floored for the 3rd time.
McDermott and Fury clashed twice with Fury winning by a controversial decision in their first fight in 2009 and scoring a TKO victory over McDermott in their 2nd fight. In his two most recent fights, Fury won by a TKO in the 5th round over Nikolai Firtha in September. In November Tyson again won by TKO over Neven Pajkic in the 3rd round.
In the Pajkic fight Fury showed his grit by climbing off the canvas to get the TKO win.
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