By Scott Gilfoid: British promoter Mick Hennessy figures that his fighter unbeaten heavyweight contender Tyson Fury is only two fights away from a shot at IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko this year or perhaps next.
Fury has to get past 36-year-old former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham next Saturday night on April 20th at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. If Fury wins that fight, he then will have to face unbeaten #1 IBF Kubrat Pulev this year to become Wladimir’s mandatory challenger.
Hennessy said to thesun.co.uk “Tyson is in a two-fight situation to get to Wladimir and then the fight has to be made or it goes to purse bids.”
Fury isn’t much of a puncher to speak of and pretty much the only thing he has going for him is his 6’9” height. For his size, Fury is actually a weak puncher and mostly just slaps with his shots. He doesn’t defend well and gives up his height by foolishly standing close to his opponents.
At first I thought that Fury mainly did this because he likes getting hit back because it motivates him to fight harder. However, after looking at Fury’s form when he does actually fight at a distance and use his height and reach it seems apparent to me that he lacks the flexibility in his arm and upper body to throw jabs and power punches from a long ways away.
Fury’s kind of forced to fight in close because the flexibility just isn’t there for him. What this means, of course, is that he’s going to get hit a lot by Cunningham next Saturday and he’ll likely end up eating a lot of jabs and power punches. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Fury ends up getting cut a couple of times by Cunningham’s stinging shots and have one of his eyes closed. Fury might be able to win the fight by size and youth alone, but I think it’s still a 50-50 fight.
The punishment that Fury takes against Cunningham will pale in comparison to the kind of punishment he’s going to take in his fight against Kubrat Pulev if he gets that fight by getting past Cunningham. Pulev is going to really punish Fury with power shots and his hard jab and it’s going to be really tough on him in this fight.
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