By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury (14-0, 8 KOs) will be returning to the ring next month against 31-year-old Ukrainian Andriy Rudenko (24-1, 16 KOs) on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs. Martin Murray fight on February 21st at the Salle des Étoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Fury, 20, has been out of the ring for the past eight months due to a medical problem. He’s now taken care of the issue and he’s ready to resume his career. The last time Fury, the nephew of heavyweight contender Tyson Fury, fought was back in May of 2014 when he beat Danny Hughes by an unimpressive 8 round decision.
Supposedly, Hughie’s medical condition sapped his strength. Whether that’s the case or not is unknown, but I guess we’ll find out next month if he’s able to punch with more power than he’s shown since he turned pro in 2013.
Hughie has never looked like a big puncher in any of his fight even at the start of his career, so it’s difficult to imagine him suddenly developing power at this point. At 20, a fighter should already have his power in place, and unfortunately Fury doesn’t seem to have any.
“This is an easy fight to get motivated for, but I’ve always been focused and motivated for my fights,” Hughie said via Fightnews.com. “I just want to show people what I can actually do. I know I can beat anyone in the heavyweight division and, now I’m 100% healthy, it’s up to me to prove myself. You’ll see on the night what I can do at this level.”
I think Hughie needs to step back and sit down for a while to clear his head, because he’s not seeing things correctly if he actually believes he can beat anyone in the heavyweight division. Hughie doesn’t have the punching power, defense or the hand speed to threat his way to the top of the heavyweight division in my estimation.
I see Hughie as a guy comparable to Nicolai Firtha in terms of power and skills. I don’t see him as being a guy who will be able to move up and beat any of the best, even the lower level fringe guys. I mean, the power just isn’t there for the young Hughie, and he’s not looked great even against mediocre opposition like Hrvoje Kisicek, Dorian Darch, and Moses Matovu.
Hughie’s trainer Peter Fury should think seriously about keeping Hughie in the slow lane for the next five to six years to see if Hughie can develop his man strength because right now he doesn’t hit hard enough to compete with the best guys.
If Hughie would go on a weight program for the next 5 years, it’s possible he might develop some punching power. But if they start putting Hughie in with good heavyweights, he’s going to take some terrible punishment in being forced to fight the whole distance instead of being able to score knockouts.
What you don’t want is the young Hughie slurring his words by the time he’s 30 due to the punishment he’s forced to take in his fights. If you’re a heavyweight without punching power, it means you’re going to be forced to fight the entire 10-12 rounds of your fights in order to get the win instead of being able to count on your punching power to get you victories.
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