By Scott Gilfoid: After three years as a pro, heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury (19-0, 10 KOs) will finally be taking on a decent opponent in the hard hitting and crafty Fred Kassi (18-4-1, 10 KOs) at the end of the month on April 30 at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK.
The fight will be televised on BoxNation. Hughie is bragging about how he’s taking on the tough fights that no one else wants to take. That’s pretty mind boggling that Hughie would come up with that line because the guy hasn’t faced a talented opponent yet. I mean, Hughie’s last fight against 40-year-old journeyman Dominic Guinn last March.
As far as I can tell, Guinn isn’t someone that the top heavyweights are avoiding. Before that, Hughie fought Larry Olubamiwo, Emilio Ezequiel Zarate and 40-year-old George Arias. Those guys aren’t being avoided, and those are definitely not fighters that no one else is taking on.
“I’m taking fights nobody else is taking, the ones people avoid because they make you look bad,” said Hughie to skysports.com. I want these type of fights because when I know I’m fighting for a world title, I’ll know to expect everything. That’s what I’m going for this year – good fights, and if a good opportunity comes along, I’ll take it.”
I wonder if someone has been planting ideas into Hughie’s head to make him think that the fodder he’s been fighting are guys that none else has been wanting to fight, because there’s no one on his padded resume that anyone is avoiding. Hughie sounds confused to me. You can look at Hughie’s weak resume from top to bottom, and you’re not going to see anyone that ie being avoided. Heck, even Kassi isn’t being avoided. He’s just a 36-year-old journeyman with limited height.
Yeah, Kassi gave some problems to Chris Arreola and Dominic Breazeale, but I don’t rate those guys as top 15 contenders. I see them both as limited 2nd tier guys, and that’s all I’ll ever see them. As such, Kassi didn’t do anything special in giving those guys headaches because they’re 2nd tier guys just like him in my rankings.
Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Kassi gives the weak-punching 6’6” Hughie a royal whipping he won’t soon forget on April 30. Kassi can punch, he’s crafty with his unorthodox fighting style, and he’s got the talent to land his punches against taller fighters. I don’t care how much running Hughie does, he’s going to get nailed by Kassi sooner or later in the fight. Hughie is going to need to take some major shots without falling apart and flopping around on the canvas like a big fish out of water. It won’t look good if/when that happens. It also won’t look good if Hughie runs all night long like he did against Andriy Rudenko.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfyukg5Vf6Y
That was a terrible fight to watch. I needed two strong cups of coffee to sit through the whole thing because it was such an awful fight to watch due to Hughie’s running and holding.
“At the moment, I’m taking good fights, getting myself up there and they’re good for experience,” said Hughie. Hopefully, I’ll be fighting every four weeks and I’m not bothered who it is as long as I’m learning the job properly so when it’s my time to shine, I will. It will come when it comes,” said Hughie about a fight against Anthony Joshua.
I think Hughie needs to forget about Joshua for the time being until he proves he can beat the 2nd tier guys like Kassi. Heck, Hughie still hasn’t cut his baby teeth on fringe level contenders yet. He’s still messing about with 2nd tier fodder. Kassi is 2nd tier, but he’s a good 2nd tier guy.
If Hughie looks atrocious against Kassi, which I have a feeling he will, then he needs to stick around at the 2nd tier level for another two or three years to see if he can make enough improvements to one-day start fighting top tier contenders. Right now, I think Hughie doesn’t have the talent to be fighting top contenders. He’s too weak, too much of a runner, and too sloppy in the ring. I’m just saying. I wouldn’t want Hughie to go into the ring with Joshua or one of the other top tier guys and get plastered all over the canvas.