By John Spandley: On 28th November 2015 at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf the world of boxing was shocked and stunned by a challenger that exudes charisma and controversy of the likes the general and sporting public have not witnessed since the great Muhammad Ali. Now I am not here to compare the two men as that mistake has been made time and time again.
However, the circumstances and the similarities of that earth shattering performance will always mirror the night The Greatest of All Time stunned the world to rip the titles of the menacing persona that was Sonny Liston.
The general public with the majority of Boxing`s top pundits wrote the challenger off from the get go fueling the Fury team`s determination to shock the world and put egg`s on a lot of faces of Boxing’s leading experts. In this article I will try to take you through a journey on how the self titled Gypsy King came to the summit of the sports most legendary weight category.
Having initially been denied the opportunity to fight for Ireland at the Olympic Games, he was permitted to represent both Great Britain and Ireland after tracing his family lineage to relatives in Belfast. Fury has represented both England and Ireland as an amateur, winning the ABA championship in 2008 before turning professional later that year.
Fury began his amateur career representing both Ireland and England. Fury fought for Ireland three times at international level. He initially fought out of the Holy Family Boxing Club in Belfast, Northern Ireland and later switched to the Smithboro Club in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. In a double international duel against an experienced Polish team in 2007, the Irish team lost 12–6 overall; Fury, however, was victorious in both his fights in Rzeszów and Bialystok. In another Irish match against the US, Fury won his bout by knock-out.
He was forced to withdraw from the Irish national championships after officials from the Holy Trinity Boxing Club in West Belfast, the club of the then Irish amateur heavyweight champion, submitted a protest regarding his eligibility. He won a bronze medal at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in 2006.
In England, whilst representing Jimmy Egan’s Boxing Academy, he participated in the senior national championships in 2006 but was beaten by David Price.
In May 2007, he won the EU Junior Championship representing England, and later lost to Maxim Babanin in the final of the European Junior Championships. As a junior, he was ranked number three in the World behind the Russians Maxim Babanin and Andrey Volkov, but lost out to David Price for a place at the Olympic Games in Beijing representing the United Kingdom.
Price was chosen for the 2008 Olympic team ahead of Fury due to Olympic rules restricting each country to one boxer per weight division. Fury also unsuccessfully tried to qualify for Ireland, and attributed his failure to qualify for the Olympics as his reason for turning professional, instead of waiting for a chance that might not have come in 2012.
In the absence of Price (who won Olympic Bronze in Beijing) he became national champion (ABA) in 2008.
How our perspective may have changed if Fury was in that Olympic squad? Would the hype train be quite so noisy if we had two Olympic gold medalists fighting it out to be top dog?
The Beginning
Tyson`s professional debut took place on the 6th December 2008. 12 years after the former unified champion of the world’s debut and 4 years after his last lost. On that night the start of a magnificent story began.
It is well documented that Tyson`s heritage comes from a long line of Gypsy Bare knuckle fighters which is evidently implemented into his DNA. The man himself excluding his title challenge had also faced a long hard fight in the face of adversity even before he came into this world as his father John Fury explains. Tyson was born three months premature and weighed a mere 1lb. His paternal grandfather was from Tuam, County Galway, which is also the birthplace of his father John Fury. His maternal grandmother is from County Tipperary and his mother was born in Belfast. His family certainly has a long history in the boxing business his father fought in the 80s as “Gypsy” John Fury initially as a bare-knuckle fighter and unlicensed boxer, and then as a professional boxer. He is a cousin of Irish WBO Middleweight World Champion Andy Lee and heavyweight Hughie Fury. Hughie’s father, Peter Fury, is also Tyson’s trainer. He is also a distant relative of “self-styled King of the Gypsies” Bartley Gorman. His father named him “Tyson” after then-world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
This is what John had to say to theguardian.co.uk about the night Tyson was born.
“They said to me, ‘It is not looking good, you have to prepare for the worst’.
“But I said, ‘I’m not preparing for the worst, it is not up to you, it is up to God, and God is looking on him’.
“I said, ‘He’ll live, he will be all right. It is his destiny to live and he will be seven feet tall, 20 stone and be the heavyweight champion of the world and his name will be Tyson, after Mike Tyson’.
“He has been fighting for his life since he came into the world. I believe it is his destiny to become ¬champion.”
To have as much charisma and brashness as a man like Tyson you would need to be taught by the best and he really did not need to look no further than his own Father. “Gypsy” John Fury was a notorious Boxer / Bare knuckle fighter in the 80`s. Even though the noise did not reflect his boxing record just hearing some of his interviews and watching his demeanor you can tell some of the old confidence rubbed off onto his young protégé. Since his release from prison this year it has certainly given the new world champion an extra boast in motivation.
“It will be good for me to have my dad there, back in my corner. It’ll mean a lot to me because he started me in the sport and guided me to the British title,” said Fury, unbeaten in 23 contests, and on the verge of a world title challenge this year.
Mick Hennessy – Tyson’s story with Mick Hennessy is so extensive it would warrant its own article (or film) but in a nut shell the loyalty that Tyson has shown Mick has paid dividends to his career. Mick and Tyson were with each other professionally from the start of his career. When an overweight Tyson was in sparring with a certain Mike Perez a Cuban Irish based fighter that was well thought of in the boxing fraternity until his unfortunate fight with Abdusalamov.
By all accounts Mike on the first day was knocking Tyson around until the next day when he decided to listen to Hughie`s tactics and from there strategically broke Mike Perez down forcing him to quit mid way through sparring. This tenacity and never say die attitude ultimately sent alarm bells ringing in Mick that he had a diamond in the rough.
Mick had meticulously matched Tyson successfully up until this challenge getting him a good overall grounding on different fighting styles. Most would agree the mans shrewd business mentality in being able to have Tyson fight on various networks and on various bills has exposed Tyson to the Boxing public, bringing a spotlight to the future champion catapulting him to elite status.
Of course there are many other team members that have helped Tyson to become the fighter he is today such as Clifton Mitchell, Asif Vali, Hughie Fury x2 which has evidently been a great mix in getting the best out of the Gypsy King. The close knit family bond is a very rare thing to have in these present times but it has clearly been a key factor in producing the best as well as taming the out spoken beast that is Tyson Fury.
From watching him from the beginning it is clear to see that without the foundations that he has been given by his back room staff he would not have reached the top echelons of the sport which he has now reached.
Sparring partners
Peter and his Brother Hughie had not shared much of their experiences on sparring partners but from past evidence and comments from boxers the Fury Gym is run in a some what old school style. This is similar to the Mayweather gym where the fighters go in gladiator style without head gear and put their hearts (and chins) on the line. The Fury’s had helped Tony Bellew in his preparations for Nathan Cleverly and also brought back the former Heavyweight Contender “Fast” Eddie Chambers out of the shadows to believe he can compete once again at the highest level. All the fighters have commented on how grueling but beneficial these camps are.
Training camps
The Fury’s have a belief that for each fight they do not want to stay stagnant and be in the same camp each and every time, which in itself a very good tactic as most people will agree with me a new surrounding will heighten your senses. The Fury camp last time for their world title challenge chose to live in a Nomadic fighter’s camp and pitched up 3 caravans in a field and to cut themselves off of the outside world to concentrate on the finer details of his technique and to eliminate outside distractions.
This method has been a proven success time and again with fighters of the past proving to be a fighter you must live like one. Something fighters rarely do in the modern game due to the money and publicity surrounding the sport.
Antics
I am not going to delve into the full past and present of Fury’s antics because this again would require another article to cover the chaotic but strategic way that he has come to be known. Below I will highlight a couple of elements that I believe were a deciding factor that planted the seed of doubt into the unbeaten Unified Heavyweight Champion of the World.
For Fury to win this contest it wasn’t just his sheer fighting ability that clinched him the title it was also the mental mind games played by the Fury team from the beginning. Ever since Tyson started to shake up the boxing scene we have heard faint whispers of a Klitschko fight increase fight upon fight. As the belief grew within himself and the team after each fight the noise increased until the sound could not be ignored anymore and a defence from the champ was the only option he was left with morally. With the spotlight firmly on the challenger he did the opposite from the norm of previous opponents and grew further in confidence the more the mind games where factored into the build up. There were many points in this fight but some of the key ones are as follows.
The first media day was full of surprises for the champion as well as the boxing public. The journalists and all the public who had come to attend would have no doubt expected something to come from Tyson but the absolute confidence that he showed in the beginning would have even given the Hall of Famer and Greatest Boxer of all time a run for his money.
With everyone patiently waiting for the challenger in the press room a Yellow Lamborghini pulls up outside the venue. The emergency doors opened up and time seemed to have stopped for a moment until a gargantuan leg stepped out to reveal a 7ft Batman. This unusually large cape crusader began to run until he got to the conference and came in with a playful flying kick to enter the room…. What a statement.
Following this Tyson sat calm and collectively until it was his turn to speak. With the public already dumb struck they did not quite expect The Joker (Hughie Fury) to make an appearance when it was Tyson’s turn. This followed with a choreographed melee between the two giants that knocked over the champions belts all over the floor ending with Tyson picking up The Joker with the line “Time to clean up these streets” The Champion certainly did not expect this to happen and for a control freak that has to have everything go to a set time frame this must have made Wladimir and his team think twice.
The first media day was not all a circus. Tyson soon changed for the serious part. Time and time again the Fury Camp had an answer to all of the Ukrainian team’s comments and questions continually backing them up and making them sweat, even resulting in Mick Hennessy outing the Klitschko camp on the underhanded tactics with the Gloves fiasco. From here a confident and Fury walked into the Gloves are off session with a lot of question marks piling up. The key point in this episode is a comment from Tyson stating “ I need to lay off of you because I do not want you to pull out of this fight”. As we all know after this happened the Klitschko camp delayed the fight in an attempt to unsettle the camp. Take this how you will but Tyson stated after that this did not faze him and that this really was an idea to goad Wladimir into doing this as the challenger had been struck ill and was losing weight resulting in an unsettled camp, luckily this worked and both teams got an extended training camp playing into the challengers hands.
This coupled with the other escapades i.e. Tyson singing to Wlad in the public workout, videos of him head-butting a melon or jumping into an ice bath screaming about Klitschko undoubtedly gave the champ an idea that maybe the end was in site.
The controversy did not end with several underhanded tactics from the Klitschko camp being initiated. Such as the extra padding on the ring surface, to slow the challenger, or the wrapping drama that the Klitschko initiated. From here the Fury camp dug their heels in until these tactics had to be made aware to the public forcing the champion’s camp to change the advantage in the eyes of the public with their tails between their legs.
You could see in the fight differences in the confidence when punches were thrown with Tyson giving a little feint or a taunt then executing an attack with the other side of the coin pent up and looking like a shadow of his former self. Many articles have tried to some this up as growing old overnight but if you pay close attention to the first three rounds all the challenger did was feint and force the champion into an over cautious defensive shell (More than usual)
Fighting style
The new champion had been brought up in the old style gypsy way of fighting which is chuck them in the deep end and watch them swim, it is human nature for parents to be protective of their child when it comes to a dangerous situation but I believe this can sometimes hamper a persons progress. As they say greatness comes from struggle and if you take a little bit of time to research the camp struggle has been a way of life for a long while.
I believe the tests of time will surely end up highlighting the fact that Tyson`s Uncle Peter Fury is the one who should be credited for Tyson`s World titles and also for keeping him in the sport.
Now Tyson had always had the natural fighting mans ability but was lacking the finesse that takes fighters to the summit of the sport. After a successful period of out brawling and out willing his previous 17 opponents it was time for a change. Even though Tyson had only had two different coaching style his whole professional career it has proved beneficial for him as Hughie taught him to Out will and Peter taught him to Out skill. Tyson summed this up himself.
If you have studied Tyson than you would have noticed that since the Rogan fight no one can really judge on the game plan of the Fury’s as Tyson has a lot of ammunition put in his locker by the future hall of fame trainer Peter Fury. We have seen leaning and jabbing against the likes of Steve Cunningham wearing him down until the bigger man could hit a flush shot.
We have also witnessed the switch of styles and hit and move against the ever controversial Dereck Chisora to the constant moving and feinting which won Fury the Heavyweight champion of the world.
To look at each and every aspect individually would be a great asset to most fighters but with all the spices in the pot it makes for a perfect blend to get the best out of a fighters DNA.
Love him or hate him he is fast becoming the most talked about name in sport, not just boxing. The British Public in my personal opinion really needs to back their horse and respect the achievements in the face of adversity that this Goliath of a man has achieved.
Or will it be that we as people will do the same thing humanity has done with fighters past. Appreciate them once they are no longer here to entertain us.
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