By Matt McFahn: Tyson Fury continued his unbeaten streak tonight increasing his paper record to 19-0, giving the aging journeyman Vinny Maddalone his 8th defeat. Fury decided to revert to his orthodox stance in this bout, after a similar five round performance in the southpaw stance against Martin Rogan in April for his last bout. From round one Fury used Maddalone almost as a heavy bag as Maddalone offered and landed little shots in way of retaliation on the 6’9” Fury.
After almost 5 rounds of punishment, Vinny Maddalone was eventually stopped by the referee. I was surprised the contest wasn’t stopped sooner, as not only did Maddalone fail to put up a decent offense; his defensive skills were shown as clearly lacking. His guard was weak whilst it was up, which was not often and was pounded open by Fury’s straight shots.
I was very impressed by Fury tonight, he weighed in at 245½ lbs, a tied career low, but was looking noticeable slimmer than in previous bouts, the spare tire that often hangs over the sides of his shorts had gone. This showed in his performance, his shots were much cleaner as he has had a tendency to throw wide handbags of hooks in the past, and he looked generally much more comfortable throughout the fight in his movement around the ring.
Still, on the other hand, Fury coming into this fight was rated internationally as 6th by Boxrec, compared to Maddalone at 105th. These sorts of mismatches shouldn’t be happening at this point in Fury’s career, especially with the claims he is making after these fights. After the fight, Fury claimed Adamek was too small for him and he would knock him out. Until Fury fights a higher class of opponent these claims are going to just look ridiculous. In addition, if Fury hopes to be the mandatory challenger for Vitali Klitschko, he should also begin to fight boxers with a similar reach to him as he won’t be able to pick apart the taller boxers such as the Klitschkos as easily as he does against smaller boxers such as Maddalone and Rogan. It’s a completely different style of fight against a boxer when you have a reach advantage, and with a tall boxer such as Fury, he won’t be used to fighters being able to trade with him without getting on the inside, and he may find it a difficult challenge against Vitali Klitschko.
Overall, I was impressed with Fury tonight, but only due to his much better physical state entering this fight. It’ good to see him begin to take his training and dieting seriously, and it looks like it’s paying off. I hope he can now be matched with much better challenges, and if he begins to up the level he is fighting at he looks like he will be able to learn and maybe then he will be able to challenge a Klitschko, he won’t get anywhere facing the Vinny Maddalones of the division.
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