British heavyweight Tyson Fury, who challenges Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday, is the living embodiment of Mickey O’Neil, the unhinged gypsy boxer played by Brad Pitt in Guy Ritchie’s 2000 film “Snatch“.
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The 27-year-old Briton was unhappy with the the surface and insisted it was too soft ahead of Saturday’s WBA, WBO and IBF title fight in Dusseldorf.
“He’s done a lot in boxing and he’s been at the highest level for a long time and has made so many successful title defences, said Fury, who has only 24 pro fights to his credit”.
Tyson told ESPN that he is going to make the current champion “look an idiot” and “a fool” and be ashamed “in front of his own 60,000 crowd”.
On the other hand this will be Fury’s 25th fight and although he has won them all, Klitschko represents a real step up in quality for the Gypsy King. The decrease in mass will give him more speed and flexibility against the champion, though it could come at the cost of power. “I have gone for 10 years from fight to fight”. Klitschko prefers to drain his opponents, calmly chipping away at their defenses or popping them with the jab as challengers furiously swing themselves out of contention. “Underdogs win. I think it’ll pan out with me knocking him out”. Klitschko last defended his four titles in April, cruising to a straightforward unanimous-decision win over Bryant Jennings. Like I said, I am coming, and I am coming very fast for your blood.
“Fury has been avoided and has got himself into top shape for this fight”. “My brother Peter has done a magnificent job and now my son, who I still think of as a six-year-old, is ready”.
Yet odds makers and the betting public alike remain unconvinced of Fury’s chances of dethroning Klitschko. I’m not looking at Tyson going down to show to people how he can get up, I’m looking for Tyson to miss his shots from the beginning so all these are all strategies that were worked on.
Klitschko is taking a stance against Fury that would make Mike Tyson proud, telling The National that all the strategy in the world doesn’t make much difference when you get hit.
Time and again we have seen Klitschko surprising opponents with the speed of his footwork: one moment he is in range, the next he is gone. And I’m the Trojan Horse for him. Out of his 64 wins, he landed 53 of them via knockout. I don’t know. Will it be bad for him in the fight?
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After a buildup dominated by humor – Fury dressed up as Batman, sung to Klitschko, and complimented him on his scent, while also making wild boasts of ending his rival’s long heavyweight reign – the British fighter stuck to the script on Friday, maintaining his silence during the obligatory staredown that ended with a handshake.
