Tyson Fury and the Heavyweight Division

By Boxing News - 12/03/2014 - Comments

fury5555By Lukasz Clemans: When I first saw Tyson Fury fight 5 years ago I was not a fan at all. I believed that his height could cause some lower level domestic fighters some trouble and he may even one day become a European Champion based on his decent amateur background and his young age. I couldn’t imagine him being a true world contender at any stage of his career and would be very surprised that 5 years later he would be still undefeated after 23 fights. However Tyson Fury has definitely changed my mind in the past couple of years and I am now a big fan, despite the fact that his competition can still be considered to be lacking in elite-level fighters.

Last Saturday Fury beat Derek Chisora (20-5, 13Kos) via a dominating yet rather boring 10 round TKO as most of you will know. Yes Tyson had already beaten Chisora a few years ago by a unanimous decision but this Chisora was a far fitter, more focused fighter than he was in the previous match-up and was a man who had gained great experience fighting at a very high level since their last fight, regardless that he had lost every time he truly stepped up in level.

Chisora had always fought hard and had given every fighter he had faced some sort of problems, even against Vitali Klitschko and David Haye, but against Fury he showed nothing and looked defeated and lost long before the inevitable ending in the tenth round.

Chisora may be one dimensional and not categorized amongst the true elite of the division but he has always carried a swagger of fearlessness and aggression; but Fury ripped all that away due to him putting on a Wladimir-esque display of fighting tall and not taking any unnecessary risks like we’ve seen him do before. This display showed me that Tyson Fury, when switched on and sticking to a game plan, can look like a great technical and overall physically imposing beast in the heavyweight division – all at the tender age of 26. His reach, decent punching power, strength, confidence and good heart will give problems to most of the heavyweight division and I personally would see him beating other contenders at the moment such as Bryant Jennings, Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua and I would love to see them fights come together one day. Fury’s chin has been questioned by many since he has been knocked down by lighter punching heavyweights such as Steve Cunningham and little known Nevan Pajkic but his heart got him through them fights and he won both by knockout. I personally think however that in these fights Fury was knocked down because he had been careless due to trying to entertain and show off rather than sticking to a game plan. As shown against Chisora though, when Tyson is fighting an opponent he sees as a threat he can be an intimidating opponent for anyone because of his mature fighting brain when not getting carried away by all those bright lights and cameras.

Of course one reason why Fury is receiving so much attention is due to his ‘entertainment’ which at the start of his career was definitely where he could draw interest into his fights, along with the fact that he is a traveler and 6 foot 9inches, rather than his actual fighting skills. All of a sudden this is starting to change, with fight fans now been drawn in because of his fight skills although Tyson Fury will always be an entertainer too of course. Some of the things he says outside of the ring can offend many and annoy others, including myself, but I can’t help but smile at times such as when he enters the ring singing along loudly to the ring entrance music, so I think he is overall a positive inclusion for boxing, especially in the hheavyweight division, which after years of little excitement, finally seems to be heating up. As we know he is now mandatory to fight Wladimir Klitschko next year but if for some reason that fight doesn’t end up happening or if it does and Tyson loses, as I would expect, there are still many exciting fights out there which are hard to predict based on the many untested and often unbeaten heavyweight contenders out there like Deontay Wilder, Berman Stiverne, Anthony Joshua and even Andy Ruiz. This crop of young talent all have question marks above them like Fury and each fighters destiny is unknown but one of them will become a dominant heavyweight champion in the future. If the right fights are made there are enough of these types of fighters to make the division ignite.
For me Wladimir Klitschko is still too strong and smart to lose to anyone in the heavyweight division but the next 2 years in particular are going to answer a lot of questions regarding the future of boxing. It finally looks like the match-ups we have all wanted to see will come together in the next two years and it will be interesting to see the progress of young prospects like Anthony Joshua and even Tyson’s cousin Hughie Fury, who is still only 20 years old. Everyone has their opinions and favourites but only time will tell who the next ‘big man’ favourite will be and if anyone can dethrone the aging yet brilliant Wladimir Klitschko. Next year will answer many of these questions amongst the fans and heavyweights with Stiverne vs Wilder kicking off 2015 in January, which will definitely bring excitement. It is hard and almost impossible to predict, but my guess is Tyson Fury has as good a chance of anyone of being the next truly recognised number 1 fighter in the heavyweight division.



Comments are closed.