By Scott Gilfoid: Hughie Fury is ready to challenge Anthony Joshua for his IBF title in November, according to Hughie’s trainer Peter Fury. He says Hughie (20-0, 10 KOs) is ready to step up and take the challenge against the unbeaten Joshua (17-0, 17 KO) for his strap. Hughie has had the fight offered to him in the past against Joshua, but he never accepted it.
This time, he and Peter are willing to take the fight. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has other options available to him besides just Hughie for his November fight. There’s former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne, #1 IBF mandatory Joseph Parker and former world title challenger Kubrat Pulev.
Those would be guys that would likely give Joshua a much tougher challenge than young 21-year-old Hughie. In Hughie’s last fight, he was getting handled pretty easily by journeyman Fred Kassi last April. The fight was halted in the 7th due to Hughie having suffered a cut in a clash of heads in round six. It was the strangest thing to watch. Kassi was just standing there when Hughie came forward head first and bumped into him like a big Billy goat. At the time, Kassi was nailing Hughie with huge power shots and things were looking bleak for the 6’6” Hughie.
It’s fortunate that the cut did occur because if not for that, it’s doubtful that Hughie would have survived the next five rounds. Hughie was tired, taking vicious head shots, and he looked like a knockout waiting to happen. As bad as Hughie looked against Kassi, I think it would be a splendidly awful idea for him to challenge Joshua for his IBF title. I mean, it would give Hughie a nice payday, but I think it would be a bad deal for boxing fans that tune in to watch the fight, and it would be especially a bad thing for the fight fans that pay to see the fight.
I think Hughie needs to prove himself against a real top fighter and prove that he can go win without a cut. The cut in the Kassi fight allowed Hughie to go just seven rounds and win by a technical decision. Hughie can’t make a career out of fights ending before the distance due to cuts, which is why I’d like to see him prove himself against a good top contender where he beats him by going the distance. I’m talking a good top contender, not some fluff fighter that has an inflated ranking.
“He’s ready to face these kinds of fights and there’s no reason why they can’t happen. He’d be the most technically proficient fighter Joshua has faced by a mile,” said Peter Fury to skysports.com. “I know Eddie Hearn has some other options available to him that he mentioned when we spoke, and I’m waiting for them to get back to me but as long as the finances are right then we’ll take it.”
Hughie was offered a title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder last year, but he chose not to take him up on his offer. From what I remember, the excuse for not agreeing to fight Wilder was that Hughie wanted a full eight-week training camp. It would have been something like five or so weeks for Hughie. For a 21-year-old, it’s hard to imagine Hughie needing more than six weeks to prepare for a fight. I’m just staying. I think that was a lost opportunity for Hughie to get a nice payday. I don’t think he would have won, but the whole idea behind fighting is to try and win world titles, isn’t it? For that reason, I was kind of surprised when Hughie didn’t take the fight offer.
“A lot of people have underestimated him on his past performances because he’s been struggling with the health issues and as a result was performing at 30%-40%,” said Peter about Hughie.
Its one thing for Peter to be talking about Hughie’s health issues limiting his performance 30%-40%, but it’s another thing for him to go out and prove that he’s any different now. If Hughie is improved, then it would be nice to see him inside the ring beating the stuffing out of some top contender. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen Hughie fight since his cut stoppage win over Kassi last April, and Hughie looked dreadful in that fight. In other words, we haven’t seen a fight from Hughie where he was supposedly 100% and looking like a fighter that we’d never seen before. As such, I have a hard time seeing Hughie as deserving of a title shot against Joshua. I think Hughie is more deserving of a rematch against Kassi if he’s willing to wait his turn to fight him, because he’s currently scheduled to fight the talented fringe contender Jarrell Miler on August 19.
I wouldn’t want to see Joshua fight Hughie fury, because I see that match as a sick massecure. What would make it especially bad is the fight would likely be sold on Sky Box Office pay-per-vice. If it was a nice little exhibition fight shown on regular Sky, then I’d be all for it. Hughie could wear head gear and 16oz gloves. It would be a harmless fight for kicks. But I don’t agree with the idea of Hughie getting a title shot over more qualified and experienced contenders in the top 15. Hughie is currently ranked #13 by the International Boxing Federation. If he works his way up to the No.1 spot by besting contenders, then I think it would be a great idea for Joshua fighting him. But short of that, I don’t see Hughie as worthy of a title shot. Talent-wise, I do not see Hughie ever becoming a No.1 contender in the heavyweight rankings, because he’s too flawed. In watching Kassi handle Hughie last April, it was clear to me that Hughie lacks the punching power, talent and overall ability to win a world title. I realize that Hughie is still young, but I don’t see the basic foundation being there for him to build on to one day become a world champion.