By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury announced his comeback on Thursday, and he’ll be making his ring return on June 9 against an opponent still to be determined at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The soon to be 30-year-old Fury has signed a promotional deal with British promoter Frank Warren. While there’s a certain amount of excitement from fans of the 6’9” Fury, other fans have doubts whether he’ll accomplish anything with his comeback other than getting a big payday against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. A lot of people believe that unbeaten former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Fury will take on dreadful fodder opposition until he gets his big payday fight against Joshua, which he’s expected to lose badly.
“The King has returned,” said Fury. “I’m back to reclaim what is rightfully mine. This is going to be an interesting journey. There’s a lot of fascinating challenges out there for me and I’m looking forward to getting started. I can’t wait to get in the ring and put on a display for all of my fans.”
Fury could soon be facing 47-year-old former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs soon. That fight won’t happen in Fury’s first fight of his comeback on June 9. Fury will need to work himself up to the level of a fight with Briggs. We might not see that fight for a while though, as Briggs is a dangerous body puncher with some skills. Fury hasn’t fought too many skilled fighters with power. As far as I can tell, Wladimir Klitschko is the only skilled fighter with power that Fury has faced during his career. Briggs hasn’t fought since 2016, but back then he was showing that he could still punch hard to the body. It might be a disaster for Fury to fight Briggs. Former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver is also a guy that Fury has mentioned in wanting to fight. Tarver hasn’t fought since 2015. I doubt Fury will mix it up with Tarver anytime soon. If Tarver is the same fighter he was in 2015, I see him beating Fury. I’m not sure that Tarver would be given a decision fighting Fury in the UK, but I think he would beat him nonetheless.
Fury has done an incredible job of losing over 100 pounds to get back in fighting shape. He was walking around at 360 lbs. just a year ago, and now he’s in the 250 lb. region. It’s like how former heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries ballooned up to over 330 lbs. after retiring from the sport in 1904. Jeffries was encouraged to lose weight and make a comeback for a fight against a young Jack Johnson. Jeffries did a magnificent job of losing 110 lbs. to get back down to his old fighting weight in the 220s to face Johnson in July 1910. However, Jeffries was just a shell of the fighter he’d been in the past, and he was easily beaten by Johnson by a 15th round knockout. With Fury’s lifestyle during the last 2 ½ years and the 360 lbs. that he was carrying around, I think it’s doubtful that he’ll beat anyone of note during his comeback. I think it’s academic that Fury will be fed awful opposition until he gets his big money fight against Joshua. It would be a huge surprise to me if Fury even fought a halfway decent heavyweight before he eventually faces Joshua, but I don’t see that happening.
The 6’9” Fury is living off of his accomplishment of defeating an over-the-hill 40-year-old former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko by a close 12 round unanimous decision in November 2015 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Fury didn’t win that fight. Wladimir lost it because he wouldn’t throw punches. It was one of the most peculiar fights I’ve ever seen. Wladimir literally followed Fury around for 12 rounds, not throwing shots and looking very, very old for a 40-year-old guy. In between rounds of that fight, Wladimir’s trainer was pleading with him to throw punches, any punches, to try and win the fight, but he wouldn’t do it. Wladimir looked mentally shot. That happens sometimes with fighters when they get old. They just don’t have it anymore. As much as I want to give Fury credit for beating Wladimir in 2015, I can’t. Fury only won the fight by a narrow margin, and that was only because Wladimir wouldn’t throw any punches. I think it’s clear that Fury would have lost to Wladimir if his late trainer Emanuel Steward had been working in the Ukrainian star’s corner on the night. Steward would have motivated Wladimir to let his hands go, and once he did, the fight would have been over immediately. A motivated Wladimir would have knocked Fury out in the 1st round in my opinion. That fight shows you how important the mental part of the game is. If you’ve got a guy that isn’t there mentally like Wladimir was against Fury, then he’s not going to throw punches. I don’t give Fury any credit for that. I see it as Wladimir beating himself. He would have lost to almost anyone on the night with the way he fought.
“I’m the fittest that I’ve ever been,” Fury said. ”My timing and my reflexes are better than they’ve ever been. I’m coming into the prime of my career and I’m more confident than I’ve ever been. All of my focus is on my return at the Manchester Arena on June 9th. All of the current Heavyweight Champions out there are very vulnerable and very beatable.”
I doubt that Fury is the “fittest” that he’s ever been. With all that weight that he’s lost and the lifestyle that he’s loved, I don’t think Fury is going to be anywhere close to the fighter he was in 2015.
Fury’s fighting style was never exciting. Even when Fury was at his best, he had an ugly fighting style that you can call boring. Fury was never had a fan-friendly style of fighting. It was mostly Fury moving around the ring, leaning over the ropes to avoid head shots, using his long reach to slap at his over-matched opposition like Dereck Chisora, Steven Cunningham, Joey Abell, Kevin Johnson and Christian Hammer. Heck, the only good heavyweight Fury has ever fought is Wladimir, and he was so past his prime that it wasn’t even funny. Any heavyweight with an ounce of talent would have been pure trouble for Fury on the night he fought Wladimir in November 2015. That’s why it’s so hard to understand why Fury was slapping himself on the back and feeling like he accomplished something in beating Wladimir. Fury didn’t beat the best version of Wladimir. Like Joshua, Fury beat a shot Wladimir. Just imagine Fury being 40-years-old and trying to fight someone 12 years younger than him. I don’t think he would do well at all. Wladimir looked like he was in great shape, but his mind wasn’t there for the fight, and his reflexes were gone.
Fury is going to need to start fighting with a more fan-friendly style if he wants to interest the boxing fans in his comeback, because he’s not likely going to be attracting interest from fans by fighting the best heavyweights. Like I said, Fury will almost surely take on lower level fighters until he gets his cash out fight with Joshua, which he’ll likely lose badly. Once that happens, I see Fury going back into retirement and gaining a bunch of weight. As far Fury’s present comeback goes, I think he’ll fight in his usual boring manner. Fury was never a draw even during his prime. You can blame that on his dull fighting style. There’s not a lot of boxing fans that like to see a huge slapper, moving around the ring, showboating and doing very little on offense. The main thing Fury has going for him is his ability to promote his fights with his trash talking outside of the ring. That’s where Fury is at his best. He’s a good talker, but he’s not an exciting fighter. Fury will do a decent job of selling his mismatch with Joshua. Then once Fury loses that fight, I think he’ll disappear for 2 years, gain a mess of weight, and do a lot of trash talking without backing it up. I don’t know if anyone will still take Fury seriously once he loses to Joshua though.