By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury (16-0, 8 KOs), the cousin of unbeaten #1 WBO heavyweight contender Tyson Fury, will be fighting next month in November and then again in December against opposition still to be determined, according to his trainer Peter Fury.
Peter expects Hughie to finish out 2015 with a record of 18-0, and then move ahead to fight on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko when/if that fight does take place. At this point who knows when that fight will happen?
The 21-year-old Hughie, 6’6”, is coming off the two biggest wins of his two-year pro career with victories over George Arias and Andriy Rudenko. Hughie had the chance to fight for a world title last Saturday night against the talented WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, but Peter and Fury opted not to take the fight because they weren’t satisfied with the amount of training time that would have had to get ready for the fight.
Wilder ended up fighting Johann Duhaupas, who took a horrendous beating in getting stopped in the 11th round of that fight. It’s a good thing for Hughie and Peter that they didn’t take that fight because Wilder was in fine form and looked unstoppable.
If it had been Hughie in there instead of Duhaupas, I think the fight might have ended in the 1st or 2nd round with Hughie on the canvas face down and out of it. Wilder just looks so incredible in whipping France’s Duhaupas around the ring.
“Hughie is doing fine. He will now box on Channel 5 again in November, also December if Klitchko doesn’t happen this year, and again on the Tyson vs. Klitchko bill,” Peter Fury said to Fighthype.com. “For a young man just turned 21 years old, he will have an 18-0 record going into the New Year. Expect Hughie to have around 6 fights in 2016.”
It’s unclear what Peter is waiting for before he’ll have young Hughie finally cut his teeth against his first quality opponent. I think it’s about time that Hughie gets a taste of what it’s like to fight a talented heavyweight. I’m sure an old timer like 43-year-old Tony Thompson would jump at the chance to fight the 6’6” Hughie if the fight were offered to him for the undercard of the Klitschko-Fury card.
Of course, they would have to give Thompson some decent money to get him to agree to the fight. He’s not going to say yes to a fight against Hughie on a major card like the Klitschko vs. Fury card if they offer him chicken feed. Thompson is ranked #9 by the World Boxing Council, so if Hughie beats him, then he would likely have a top 15 ranking.
That could be good or bad depending on how you want to look at things. It would mean that Hughie would have more things expected of him in terms of the opposition he’s facing, but that wouldn’t stop Peter from matching him as he pleases against whoever. But it would be a step up for Hughie to fight contenders given that he’s been matched so carefully during his career.
I don’t see any point in waiting for Hughie to develop more before putting him in with the likes of Thompson. I mean, I don’t see Hughie gaining any more punching power than he has now. I think Hughie is kind of set in terms of the punching power, or lack thereof that he has. I think he’s always going to be a light hitter no matter how long they wait for him to finally gain his man strength.
I don’t think Hughie will be any stronger five to eight years from now than he is now. As such, Peter might a well start throwing Hughie to the wolves so that he can find out what his destiny will be. I think Hughie can be a nice fringe contender along the lines of Francesco Pianeta. He’s not going to be a Joseph Parker type fighter with incredible one-punch power. Hughie will be a Pianeta type from what I can see. There’s nothing wrong with Hughie being at the level of Pianeta, because he’s a fine heavyweight and he’s even fought for world titles a couple of times in his career.
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