By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury (16-0, 8 KOs) will be taking on a soft touch this Saturday night in 34-year-old Argentinian journeyman Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (18-14-3, 9 KOs) in a scheduled 8 round fight at the City Academy Sports Centre, in Bristol.
It was pretty clear that the 6’6” Hughie was going to be facing an easy mark when he still didn’t have an opponent picked out by Tuesday of this week. I mean, the fight was only four days away and Hughie still didn’t have an opponent.
While it’s nice that Hughie finally has someone to face on Saturday, it can’t be viewed as a good thing that he’s facing someone as bad as Zarate. This guy has lost 6 out of his last 10 fights, and it’s hard to see what purpose he’ll serve in facing Hughie other than taking punishment.
About the only thing I can say about Zarate is that he’s a big guy at 6′ 5½″, 230lbs, but that’s about it. Zarate has been knocked out 7 times in his seven year pro career, and he doesn’t have much in the way of punching power going for him. So in other words, Zarate won’t be a threat to the light hitting Hughie on Saturday night.
At 21, Hughie still has time to fight more fighters like Zarate in order to pad his record, but I’m just wondering at what point they’ll take young Hughie off the soft opposition and start letting him fight the quality guys. Believe it or not, Hughie turned down a world title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder last September. It was a once and lifetime type deal and Hughie blew his chance by not taking the fight.
I saw it as something out of a Rocky movie where Hughie is picked out by an Apollo Creed type talent in Deontay, and given an undeserved shot at the WBC title. But instead of Hughie following Rocky’s lead in accepting the fight with Wilder, he turns it down and finds himself fighting journeyman Zarate for what has to be far less money. I doubt that we’ll ever see Hughie get another chance like this given to him again, so it’s too bad, because I don’t see Hughie as having the talent to ever fight for a world title.
“Hughie is a fantastic young heavyweight talent who is looking more impressive than ever in training,” said promoter Mick Hennessy. “He’s had a great 2015 so far, beating a couple of durable and dangerous heavyweights, and next year will be gunning for titles.”
Well, if Hughie is going to be gunning for the titles in 2016, then it sure would help if he was ranked in the top 15. The last time I checked, I didn’t see Hughie’s name anywhere in the top 15 with any of the boxing sanctioning bodies. Hughie sure as heck isn’t going to be given a gift title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko or WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev. Deontay probably isn’t going to throw another bone to Hughie by giving him a second shot at fighting for his title. Unless Hughie’s promoter Hennessy is talking about a minor heavyweight title trinket, I don’t see him fighting for any of the world titles in 2016.
@hughiefury pic.twitter.com/Tj6OLhKWxx
— peter fury. (@peterfury) October 30, 2015
Hughie recently beat journeyman George Arias and Andriy Rudenko in his last two fights. Those fights were ugly to watch due to Hughie’s reluctance to stand in the pocket and fight. He focused on throwing one punch at a time and then quickly moving away to avoid getting hit in return. It looked like the old hit and scat approach, and it was painfully boring to watch. I’m surprised Hughie wasn’t booed out of the ring on both occasions because the fights were hard on the eye due to the lack of action.
“He’s [Hughie] very hard to match right now, though, as a lot of top heavyweights are turning down the chance to fight him. They know how good he is,” Hennessy said.
Hughie is going to need find some punching power somewhere if he wants to compete against the top contenders and/or champions someday, because right now he’s too much a feather-fisted fighter to compete with the best in the heavyweight division. Hughie’s upper body is lacking in muscle strength for some reason. I think he needs to do some push ups or something to find some power. A weight regimen wouldn’t hurt young Hughie if he could stick to it.
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