By Charles Brun: Hughie Fury has pulled out of his fight on Saturday night against Pavel Sour in Monaco due to illness. The nephew of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has a virus, according to Matchroom Boxing, and he’s apparently sick enough to pull out of a fight that he was expected to win with EASE.
“Due to a virus Hughie Fury has unfortunately had to pull out of his fight tonight in Monaco,” said a statement from Matchroom Boxing.
It would be interesting to know what Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn is thinking right now. He signed Hughie recently, and he was expecting big things from him. Thus far, Hughie has pulled out of the Sour fight, beaten 39-year-old Samuel Peter, and lost to Alexander Povetkin.
Earlier this week, Hughie’s dad/trainer Peter Fury had talked about him getting a world title shot in 2020.
Hughie’s trainer discusses decision to cancel fight
“We understand the public is let down,” said Hughie’s dad Peter in talking about his cancellation to Hennessy Sports. “This has gone wrong since last Tuesday. On Tuesday, he was getting on the planet from Amsterdam, and said, ‘I don’t feel too good.’ As the day wore on, he started to feel a little down again. The next morning on Wednesday, that’s when it really hit. He was feeling very weak, a fever. So we got him some antibiotics.
“We put him on Amoxicillin. So instead of putting him on two doses a day, we put him on three to try and get it out of his system quickly, and that seemed to be working. All day Wednesday, he was resting in his bed. We kept him on the medication, and gave him fluids.
“On Thursday, he started feeling better. Yesterday, I put him on the pads, and when I put him on the pads, he was forcing his shots. His jab was not coming off, and stuff like that. So he was weak, and that rung alarm bells…The next morning, I asked him, ‘How do you feel?’ “Very, very weak.’ So that’s it. We had a meeting with Eddie [Hearn], and we’ve all come to the right decision,” said Peter.
Peter Fury predicts WORLD title shot for Hughie in 2020
“We’ve fixed all of the problems,” said Peter about Hughie’s game. “I think Hughie will get his world title shot next year anyway. He’s right up there, he’s in the mix with the best of them. ”
Fury (23-3, 13 KOs) was supposed to have been part of a double-header tonight at the Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monaco. The 25-year-old Hughie had lost his last fight to Alexander Povetkin by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last August, and his fight tonight was meant to be a confidence builder. In other words, it was a showcase match-up for Hughie, but he was bitten by the illness bug.
Fury must have been badly sick for him to pull out of the fight, since he wasn’t in with a world beater in 37-year-old Sour. WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder says he fought Luis Ortiz with the flu in their first fight last year, and that was against a dangerous foe. Hughie didn’t have an opponent that was expected to be press him in any way. It’s unfair to compare Hughie to a talent like Wilder obviously, because he’s an amazing fighter.
Before pulling out of the fight, Hughie was being talked about as having fixed the flaws in his game, and improved his punching power. His lack of power is the key ingredient that has handicapped Hughie’s career since he turned professional in 2013. With his 50% KO ratio, Hughie came up empty in his losses to Kubrat Pulev, Povetkin and Josepher Parker.
Hughie’s next opponent unknown
The boxing public will now need to wait until early 2020 to see the improvements in the Young Fury’s game when he returns to the ring. There’s no work of who Fury will be facing when he fights next year, but it’s likely that it’ll be someone on the level of Pavel Sour.
Ideally, it would be nice to see Hughie take on a top contender in early 2020. After all, if Peter is serious about Hughie fighting for a world title next year, then it would make sense for him to face an elite level contender.
Hughie’s career has been an odd one to say the least. He was built up by some as a guy that would be the youngest heavyweight world champion ever, but those ideas were dashed after struggling to beat Fred Kassi in April 2016. That’s a fight that Hughie gassed out after 5 rounds, and was starting to eat big right hands from the journeyman Kassi.
By the 7th round, things were looking dire for Hughie, as was getting worked over. Then a minor miracle occured when Hughie came forward and clashed heads with Kassi in the 7th, which caused a bad cut over his left eye. The fight was then stopped after the round ended. Hughie won the fight by a 7 round technical decision.
Fury hasn’t shown much improvement since Parker fight
There was talk afterwards about Hughie having a skin problem that was draining his energy, causing him to be weak. However, in Hughie’s next fight against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, he struggled in losing a one-sided 12 round majority decision. Since that loss, Hughie has beaten these three heavyweights:
- Chris Norrad
- Sam Sexton
- Samuel Peter
When Hughie stepped it up twice against good opposition, he’s lost to Pulev and Povetkin by lopsided decisions. But that was before Hughie had made improvements to his game. We were supposed to see the new, and improved Hughie fight tonight. Instead, boxing fans will need to wait until 2020 before we see the new version of Hughie.
Hughie spent much of the fight holding, moving and not looking impressive. It’s hard to say whether Hughie’s stamina had improved, because he was clinching frequently, and not fighting in a sustained manner.
Last year in October, Hughie lost to Kubrat Pulev by a one-sided 12 round decision in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator. It’s unclear what Fury had done for him to be fighting in a title eliminator, as he’d fought only once against Sam Sexton since his loss to WBO champion Parker. Nevertheless , Hughie took part in an eliminator against Pulev, and it didn’t go well for him.