Many boxing fans in the United States today seem to be so focused on who will emerge as the next great American heavyweight to make a serious challenge to the throne of the Klitschko brothers. The last American to hold a major heavyweight title is Shannon Briggs. Briggs became the WBO Champion back in November of 2006 by knocking out Sergei Liakhovich in the twelfth round. He lost his title the following year in June, dropping a twelve round unanimous to Sultan Ibragimov. It’s been a while since then, and fans have been highly anticipating for someone else to step up and fill the void. They may have to wait a little while longer if U.K. heavyweight Tyson Fury has anything to say about it.
Fury is a mammoth of a man standing 6’ 9” and weighing 245 lbs, and along with his great size, he posses the power and skill to give a lot of fighters in the heavyweight division problems. His biggest win to date, and fight that starting making people take notice, came against former WBC Heavyweight Challenger, Dereck Chisora back in July of 2011. “Everybody in boxing expected Dereck Chisora to blast his way through me because I was supposedly rubbish, supposedly a hype job, a great white hope, and supposedly no good, so he gets in the ring and I give him an absolute boxing lesson for twelve rounds. When I beat Chisora he was an undefeated fighter, his bubble was not burst. He never tasted defeat, so he was a lot harder opponent to beat than Klitschko beat, Helenius beat, and David Haye beat,” Fury explained.
Since that victory, Fury has been searching for more big names to add to his resume but just can’t seem to get another top fighter in the ring with him. “I‘ve been chasing Tomasz Adamek and David Haye for the simple reason that Adamek has beaten most of the heavyweights out there, all the heavyweights with a name anyway and I think I can do a job on him. Well actually, I know I can do a job on him, and I’ll knock him out quick time because he’s too small, and he’s too slow, and he’s not big enough for a man like me. That’s one, and then you got David Haye. He’s always going on about fighting in big fights, and he’s been beaten by one brother of the Klitschko’s, the younger one and he wants to go and fight the older one. Well, if I had any manliness about me I would want to go and have a rematch with the guy who beat me up and played with me rather than say, ‘I don’t want to fight Wladimir, but I want to fight Vitali,’ who’s old and he’s going to retire, so that to me is a man of nothing else, when you got a young man like me, a big man like me, offering to fight him. I’m higher ranked than he is in the WBC because he’s not ranked and it could be an eliminator for the title. But no, he doesn’t want to do anything like that. He’d rather quit boxing than fight Tyson Fury, which is acceptable because he will get knocked out,” Fury said.
He doesn’t seem to think too much of the current heavyweight champions claiming, “The Klitschkos, they don’t mean anything to me, they are very professional and they’re athletic, they’re athletes, but they are not inspiring people. Young kids don’t grow and say, ‘Oh yes, I want be like Wladimir Klitschko or Vitali Klitschko.’ They may as well say, ‘Oh, I want to be like Robocop,’ or someone like that. I don’t know. The heavyweight champ is supposed to inspire young kids and inspire the world. It’s the ultimate goal in boxing and in sports. The heavyweight champ should be someone who is known, looked up to, and respected, not someone who you can’t pronounce his name. The champs at the moment are fighting people who can’t fight back.”
Fury has stated that he wants to make a name for himself not just in Europe but in the United States as well. When asked about a possible American opponent for the future, the hot rising prospect Bryant Jennings’ name came up. Fury admitted, “I have seen Bryant Jennings fight. The guy is fast, he’s got angles, and he puts combinations together, but he’s too small and he doesn’t seem to carry the power to do real damage against big heavyweights. It’s alright beating somebody who been retired for five years and then come back and lost his last fight anyway, when he beat Liakhovich, and everyone is going on like it’s a big win, but Siarhei Liakhovich got dominated in his previous fight before that, so it’s not really a good win is it? So I would say all these football players and wannabe heavyweights, line them up and I’ll fight them. When you put the likes of Seth “Mayhem” Michell, a football player, in the ring with a true bred fighting man, there is only one outcome. It’s like the pit bull vs. the poodle story. He’s getting done in, same as Bryant Jennings, same as Deontey Wilder, same as Malik Scott, and same as Joe Hanks. They will all get smashed to pieces by Tyson Fury.”
It has been said time and time again, “As the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing,” and right now in a lot of people’s opinion the division is in dire need of saving. Tyson Fury is claiming to be its savior. “The savior is here. This is what I am, this is what I’m born for, and it’s my destiny to become the heavyweight champion of the world and unify the division and inspire people to become great.” Whether or not Fury is the savior remains to be seen. But either way, he is still a heavyweight that fight fans should look out for.
Check out the full interview here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/10/11/tyson-fury-jose-benavidez-jr-randall-bailey
