British heavyweight boxing is not just all about Anthony Joshua, as Hughie Fury is proving
Olympic silver medallist Joe Joyce will make his professional bow too
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Your support makes all the difference.Heavyweight boxing in Britain is not just about the continued celebration of Anthony Joshua, the return of David Haye and the trials and tribulations of Tyson Fury.
The recent slugfest for the British heavyweight title between Dereck Chisora and Dillian Whyte was as refreshing inside the ropes as it had been disturbing outside the ring; Del Boy, his mouth and his flying table were a perfect example of what can go bad. The pair should do it all again and have the conference somewhere safe, perhaps standing with no tables.
The silver medal, which probably should have been a gold, at the Olympics for Joe Joyce will be translated at some point before May into professional cash when the artist, boxer and qualified diving instructor agrees terms with the men chasing him for a signature. Joyce will need to be pushed fast and as a veteran of dozens of five-round brawls in the WSB – a tournament too far for most people to understand – he is ready now for 10 rounders. He will not serve an apprenticeship, there is no need at 31.
And then there is Hughie Fury, unbeaten in 20, still only 22 and a winner in 2012 of the world youth championships in Armenia. At the same event two years earlier, Tony Yoka of France, who beat Joyce in the Olympic final, beat Joseph Parker of New Zealand in the semi-final; Parker won the vacant WBO heavyweight title, which was taken from Tyson Fury, last December. Now Hughie, Tyson’s cousin, is on a short, short list to fight Parker in March or April.
There was a murmur, followed by a meeting or two, in early December that Hughie was on the list to fight the WBC champion Deontay Wilder, a bronze medal winner in Beijing, in March or April. It now looks like Wilder has selected somebody else for his fifth defence in late February; Wilder has picked a man called Andrzej Wawrzyk, who four years ago was brutally stopped by Alexander Povetkin, the Athens gold medal winner. However, Povetkin recently failed another drug test and is temporarily no longer a contender. I say temporarily because he does stunning business in Russia and can still fight.
Young Hughie Fury, the son of Peter, who trains Tyson, should know about the Parker fight in the next week or two. He was offered a fight with Joshua, the last fight, but said no and not politely when he was told how much he would get for the job. “They treated me like a kid, offered me an insult and I told them where to stick it,” said Fury. “I will get to Joshua on equal terms and not with a begging bowl.” Instead, Joshua met the roly-poly option Eric Molina, a former Wilder victim, in December and the big lad from Texas went down without landing a punch in round three. “Molina did exactly what I expected – nobody has tried to beat Joshua; I told his people that I would beat him, that I was not scared,” said Fury. “They believed me, I could tell. They knew I would never accept the offer.”
Fury’s professional career, which started when he was still only 18, has been slowed by illness, a skin condition that was draining his strength and scarring his body. He is now fit, healthy and, it has to be said, a different man since the spots and boils have been eliminated.
In fights with hard men, some slow but still hard, he has sharpened his boxing skills, worked on footwork and using his brain and at the same time whacking away at the solid lumps that have been hired to fight him. The amateur pedigree, essential in all heavyweight success stories, is evident; Fury is a thinking fighter, a mover, but not a runner or a dancer. He is also 6ft 6, the same height as Joshua, and at a few pounds over 17 stone, a stone lighter than the world champion. Part of Joshua’s attraction, remember, is that he never speaks badly about anybody and he still refuses to let people call him “champ”; a dignified preference that could all change after the night at Wembley in April, but there is no guarantee. Hughie is another polite guy.
“If you look at what Tyson did to (Wladimir) Klitschko you will see a heavyweight boxing, that is what the sport is about,” said Hughie. “Can Joshua box like that? We will find out. Tyson did a job on Klitschko, broke him down and broke him up. It will be my turn soon.” It just might.
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