Tyson Fury gives 4-fight plan to take him through 2020

By Boxing News - 09/10/2019 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: Tyson Fury has an ambitious four-fight dream plan in his mind where he wants to go in the remainder of 2019 to 2020. Starting with his fight this Saturday night against little known Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KOs), Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) would like to fight these guys in this order:

  • Otto Wallin
  • Deontay Wilder
  • Deontay Wilder – trilogy match
  • Winner of Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. rematch

Fury’s four-fight plan is based on him beating Wilder x 2

The immediate problem that Fury has with his 4-fight plan is Deontay Wilder. Fury is assuming that he’ll beat the hard hitting Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) in their rematch on February 22, and that may not happen. That might not happen. If Fury gets blasted out by Wilder, then Top Rank isn’t going to let him fight the talented 6’7″ American a second time in a row. With all the money that Top Rank is pouring into Fury to try to make him into a star, it would go down the drain.

Wilder had Fury knocked out in the 12th round last December, and the referee saved him by not stopping the fight when he probably should have.  Wilder has since bulked up, and added more weight to his 6’7″ frame. He appears to be punching harder than ever. When Wilder fought Fury last year, he weighed only 212 pounds compared to his 256 ponds.

The fight was for all intents and purposes a cruiserweight against a super heavyweight. Cruiserweights rehydrate to around 212 pounds when they make weight for their matches. Wilder weighing only 212 lbs. meant that he was a cruiserweight fighting a large heavyweight in Fury. Even with Wilder giving away 44 lbs., he was still able to drop Fury twice in the fight, and had him knocked out in round 12. Only the referee knows why he didn’t stop the contest after Fury was knocked clean out in the 12th.

Fury lays out his 4-fight vision

“I’ll fight Wallin, Wilder, Wilder and the winner of Ruiz-Joshua, if they’re available,” said Fury to BT Sport in naming the next four fights he wants. If not, I’ll give Del Boy [Dereck Chisora] another shot. He [Deontay] can’t fight anybody else, because his name is on a contract with with mine. Otto is just by type. He’s tall, he’s blond, he’s got blue eyes, and he’s damn sexy. Just my type. He could give me a good 12 rounds and beat me. What would I do? I’d swing for the hills and hope to land one,” said Fury when asked what he’d do if he were Wallin. “There’s not much you can do.

I’m a superior boxer. I’m much bigger than anybody in the division. I’ve got a much longer reach. I’ve got a much better IQ, and I can fight inside or outside, box or whatever. There’s not much they can do, but hope to land a lucky punch. They’ve got to get one on me, and hope they knock me down. I’ve been knocked down before. That’s all you can do,” said Fury.

Fury includes Chisora (31-9, 22 KOs) as a possible alternate in case he can’t get one of the gang of three to fight him, but he may not work either. Chisora is fighting former WBO champion Joseph Parker next month on October 26 on Sky Box Office at the O2 Arena in London. There’s a good chance that Chisora will lose that fight, and find himself suffering his 10th pro defeat. Fighters with 10 losses are often considered journeyman. Fury gains nothing in fighting Chisora at that point.

YouTube video

Fury: Wilder should have a loss on his record

“It may seem that way, because he’s on about that I should step aside,” said Fury about Wilder. “I think he’d better beat me first, and get their own with unfinished business sorted. As far as I’m concerned and the rest of the world is concerned, he [Wilder] should have a loss on his record to the Gypsy King, but he’s absolutely lucky that he’s got a draw.

There were no losers in that fight. He fought a good fight, and proved that he’s on a world level, and proved that he can mix it with the best. His popularity went from nothing to really high from fighting me. And I proved that I could come back and mix it at the world level. I ain’t just a one-shot wonder. The deal’s done. There is no negotiating.

For February 22, right here in Las Vegas. The venue has been booked, and everything has been agreed. We both signed. He can’t fight anybody else, because his name is on a contract with mine. There is nobody else for him to fight. He’s got to [take rematch] or retire. No, I don’t think they’re going to risk fighting Ortiz two months before they fight me. I spoke to Bob Arum, and he said it’s not happening,” said Fury when asked if he’ll be fighting in December. “In an ideal world, I’d love to fight in December, but if I’m definitely fighting on February 22, then I’m not bothered about fighting in December at all,” said Fury.

It’s pretty obvious that Fury is having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he couldn’t beat Wider last December. When a fighter is suffering from demons from their failures, they continually dredge up their failings during interviews.

Fury talks about his phone calls to Joshua

“I think he [Wilder] changed his number or I’m blocked,” said Fury. “Sometimes I call him, and I say, ‘Hey AJ, how are you doing, Mush.’ And then we go back and forth, and I tell him I’m going to knock him out, and he tells me he’s going to knock me out. And then I’ll say, ‘after your last performance, Mush, you’ll need a lot of improvement to knock me out,” said Fury.

That’s got to be bizarre for Joshua to have Fury calling him, and babbling about this and that without any sense. Joshua has to be a very patient man for him to resist not changing his number to keep Fury from calling him out of the blue every once in a while.

Fury doubts Joshua beats Ruiz in rematch

“I would have to, but logically, it depends on how you lose,” said Fury when asked if he’d give Andy Ruiz Jr. a rematch if he’d lost to him the way Joshua did. “We’ve seen before where a man gets knocked out, and then he beats him in the rematch. We thank of Rahman-Lewis. Rahman caught him with a big punch, and got him. But in the rematch, Lewis was a bit more cautious and took it more seriously, and splattered him in the rematch.

From where I was sitting, it wasn’t a lucky punch. It wasn’t like he [Ruiz] was losing all the rounds. I thought he was winning the majority of the fight. And, I see he’s lost some weight, and I think he’s been taking what people have been saying, and he’s got a little muscle on him.

The odds-makers think Joshua will beat Ruiz, but they’re the ones that had AJ the favorite in the first fight. Fury is taking a different view of things than the bettors. You can argue that Fury actually saw the Joshua-Ruiz fight, and witnessed how over-matched Joshua was from start to finish. One can sense that the rematch is going to go badly for Joshua not just based on what happened in their previous fight. But if you look at how completely lost Joshua sounds when interviewed, he doesn’t sound confident.

Joshua & Ruiz Jr. will lose a lot of weight before rematch predicts Fury

“I think they’re going to try and lose weight, and try to maneuver a lot,” said Fury. “You can’t do that in one camp. That takes a lifetime of practice. We saw Tony Bellew try that against [Oleksandr] Usyk, and copy my style. After seven rounds, his legs went. It’s effective. I’ve won 20 fights in a row with it. When someone practice something for eight to ten weeks, 12 weeks, and then they go into a fight and try to do it.

As soon as they get clipped or get tired, they revert straight back to what they once knew. I’ve seen it many times. As soon as he holds his feet, and starts to fight back, that’s when he loses it. But if he can get on the jab and box and move, which I’ve never seen him do, amateur or pro for 12 rounds, which for a heavyweight is very hard to do, at some point he’s going to have to stand and fight. And if he keeps running away from Ruiz with a jab, he’s not got the footwork to do that,” said Fury.

Fury doesn’t believe that Joshua will be improved by a drop in muscle mass for his rematch with Ruiz. This opinion differs from what a lot of boxing fans think, as many of them think Joshua needs to lose muscle weight. According to Fury, Joshua should stay big, and try and beat Ruiz with the same size he’s been carrying in the last six years. It didn’t work for Joshua last time. He gassed out after three round, and was batted around the ring by Ruiz until the referee halted the clash in the 7th.