Tyson Fury Headlines a Big Weekend of Boxing
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By Faisal “Fayz” Masood
It’s been a long time coming, 924 days to be precise but finally, Tyson Fury is back and makes his long awaited return to the heavyweight division this weekend when he takes on Sefer Seferi on Saturday night.
Despite not fighting since putting an end on Wladmir Klitschko’s vice like grip on the heavyweight division back in 2015, Fury has kept himself in the headlines, not always for the right reasons, well usually for all the wrong reasons but his name has stayed relevant in the heavyweight division and now we finally get to see Fury begin the first steps of the comeback trail which we hope will walk him down the road to fighting current king of the heavyweights, Anthony Joshua and also Deontay Wilder.
When the heavyweight division has big names and big characters, then the sport of boxing benefits, regardless of all the talent in the lower divisions and the sublime skills the ‘lighter’ men can put on display, there is nothing quite like a heavyweight battle between the big men.
Fury’s opponent on his return though, cannot truly be labelled a heavyweight. Sefer Seferi despite boasting an impressive record of 23-1 21 KO’s has fought almost exclusively as a cruiserweight and will be giving away a significant height and weight advantage to the 6’9 Fury who is expected to come in around 19st 7lbs(273lbs). Fury is almost putting himself in a no win situation, whatever the outcome of the fight, the result will generate some controversy. If Fury despatches his vastly undersized opponent within the first one or two rounds, it will do little in proving where Fury’s skills are after such a lengthy layoff. If Fury is taken into the later rounds against a much smaller opponent, many will claim Fury has lost his edge.
Herein lies the question, Fury is almost 30yrs old and should have been in his peak had he stayed active and not taken more than two and a half years off from the sport. Muhammad Ali was forced into taking off a similar amount of time at a similar age, and despite eventually proving he was still the best heavyweight of the 70’s, he was a vastly different boxer to the quick, slick, dancing fighter of the 1960’s. Granted sports training and nutrition has come a long way since the 60’s and 70’s but there is yet to be a substitute for fighting and sparring to keep you sharp no matter how good your eating habits are or strength and conditioning routine is.
Tyson Fury may well prove he is still the best heavyweight in the world, before his break from the sport there was no denying he was the best in the business, if he can come back and fight to a similar level, he will be a nightmare for every opponent he faces. Tall, awkward, the ability to move and just a sharp fighting mind more than makes up for the lack of a killer punch in the heavyweight division. No one still really knows how good Fury’s chin is but his boxing skill and movement I suspect would still give him the advantage over any current heavyweight in the division and against any fighter with a knock out punch.
There would be little sense in trying to predict a result for this weekend’s fight, the fight will last exactly as long as Tyson Fury wants it to last. Fury has gone on record as saying he wants the rounds so it is possible he lets the fight roll on before ending the game when he feels he is getting back into the groove. It is also entirely possible that Seferi will find his much larger opponent too steep of a hill to climb and fall early – the only thing certain about this fight is that Tyson Fury will win.
Also in action is arguably the sports number one fighter, Terence Crawford who takes on the Australian Jeff Horn who will be defending his WBO welterweight title. Having dominated both the lightweight and light welterweight divisions, Crawford looks to make a name for himself in the star studded welterweight class, you get the feeling this is where Crawford feels he could become a global superstar of the sport and the next face of American boxing, much like previous icons of the sport in the same division, Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather, JR.
With this in mind, Crawford will no doubt be looking to put in a special performance. His opponent Jeff Horn, still hasn’t really got the respect and attention he feels he deserves after beating one of the biggest names in the sport, Manny Pacquio. Regardless whether one feels Pacquiao has been on the decline or whether the decision was controversial, Horn showed a lot of heart and a lot of character in that fight, two traits he will need if he is to cause an upset against the vastly superior ‘Boxer’ in Crawford. If Horn is to win this fight, he will have to find a way to impose his bigger size against the naturally smaller framed Crawford. Bullish tactics and plenty of rough housing will be the order of the day but I expect this will not be enough against a man of Crawford’s skills.
Pacquiao was the naturally smaller man against Horn and very nearly finished Horn off, Crawford was the smaller man against Julius Indongo but had little trouble in chopping him down with shots to the body. Crawford possesses enough power to keep Horn honest and at this moment in time, is a better fighter than the ageing Pac-Man was in his fight against the Hornet.
Crawford will once again prove how good a boxer he is and if I was to predict an outcome, either Crawford wins this on a wide points decision, or he peppers Horn so much that eventually late on in the fight, Horn is stopped on his feet or calls it quits.
Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.
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The Boxing Cheat Sheet – Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival
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