By Lee Smith: British Heavyweight Contender Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) defeated American Steve Cunningham 25-6 by 7th round KO last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, to further stake a claim for a World Title Shot.
Despite a lot of people criticizing Fury for his sloppy performance in the opening rounds I think he deserves a lot more credit that he is getting. In fact both fighter deserve credit for putting on a fight which was probably the most entertaining heavyweight fight in years. With two contenders going toe-to-toe from the off and neither wanting to win a boring fight on points.
The fight swung one way then the other. It had knockdowns, point deductions, two fighters who wanted to win and most of all the one thing boxing fans want from a heavyweight fighter…A knock out victory.
It’s fair to say that Tyson Fury was sloppy, maybe because of over eagerness from fighting in America for the first time. He was being out-boxed in the opening rounds of the fight and was dropped by a very good shot. But I was impressed by the way that Fury got up from the heavy knock down and changed his game plan. Fury was clever enough to use his strength and weight to his advantage, chasing the older Cunningham around the ring until he trapped him on the ropes.
Fury would then lean on Cunningham time after time until he sapped all of the energy out of his smaller opponent. By the mid rounds Cunningham wasn’t moving as easily as earlier in the fight and this allowed Fury to tee off on Cunningham until he dropped him for the 10 count. Had this been in the earlier rounds Cunningham may have got up as Fury did, but it just looked like Cunningham had nothing left due to Fury’s constant pressure.
Cunningham’s career as a contender is effectively over now having suffered his 4th loss in 5 and the first stoppage loss of this career, whilst Fury takes another step towards a world title fight. The one thing I believe the fight did show was that Fury is clearly not ready to take on either of the Klitschko’s, but I am confident that Fury has what it takes to dispatch WBA champ Alexander Povetkin. Maybe that is what Fury should target rather than a fight with the Klitschko’s as he still has a lot of developing to do but at the age of just 24 he could turn into some fighter in the future.
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