By Tommy Gray: Former heavyweight world title challenger Hughie Fury will be fighting on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk card on September 25th on DAZN and Sky Sports Box Office.
There’s no word on who Hughie will be fighting on that date, but it’s likely to be another domestic or European-level fighter like the ones he’s been fighting.
Although Hughie is only 26-years-old, it seems like he’s been around forever because he started his professional career at the young age of 18 in 2013.
His only defeats have come against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in 2017, Kubrat Pulev in 2018, and Alexander Povetkin in 2019.
You can argue that it was a bad move to throw Hughie in with those heavyweights, considering that he’d never beaten anyone half as good to show that he belonged inside the ring with them.
Hughie has won his two fights, beating Mariusz Wach and Pavel Sour since losing to Alexander Povetkin by a 12 round decision in a WBA title eliminator in 2019.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the news of the 26-year-old Fury (25-3, 14 KOs) being added to the Joshua – Usyk card at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London, England.
If Hearn wants to take a chance with Hughie, these would be excellent options for him to fight:
- Otto Wallin
- Michael Hunter
- Zhang Zhilei
- Agit Kabayel
- Tony Yoka
- Johann Duhaupas
- Bogdan Dinu
- Demsey McKean
- Evgeny Romanov
- Martin Bakole
Hearn hasn’t given up on the tall 6’6″ Hughie despite him failing each time he’s stepped up a level against world-class opposition.
He’s not ready to abandon Hughie, but he may need to at some point if he continues to fail at the world level.
What Hughie has going for him is his last name, as he’s the cousin of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Having that last name means that casual boxing fans will notice when he’s added to Hearn’s Matchroom fight cards.
Additionally, Hughie is a decent heavyweight with skills. Compared to some of the heavyweights in the top 15, Hughie looks worlds better in talent.
Unfortunately, he possesses the skills, not the punching power or the work rate for him to beat upper-level opposition.
It’s got to be frustrating for Hearn because Hughie would excel if he could increase his work rate to 30 or 40 punches thrown per round.
He can get by without being a tremendous puncher if he were capable of outworking his opponents, but he’s unable to do that.
Hearn needs to start stacking the undercard of the Joshua-Usyk card for September 25th to sell tickets.
The Tottenham Stadium has a seating capacity of 62,850, and he may have problems selling it out due to Joshua’s opponent Usyk not being a popular fighter in the UK. However, adding Hughie to the card could help sell a few thousand tickets for his fans and family members.