Ukraine’s World boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko attends a public training session at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany, prior his heavyweight boxing fight against challenger Tyson Fury from Britain, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015. Since his last loss to Lamon Brewster in 2004, Klitschko’s won 22 consecutive fights, but only six of those bouts have taken place in the United States.
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Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing telecast begins at 4:45 p.m. (ET/PT).
Tyson Fury invoked the spirit of Muhammad Ali and Buster Douglas as he declared on Friday that he could pull off one of heavyweight boxing’s great sensations by ending Wladimir Klitschko’s seemingly eternal reign as world champion.
Yet the Fury camp promise their man is in the best shape of his life and will maintain a pace that will have Klitschko – and those watching – gasping. Of course, Klitschko will actually be looking up at an opponent for change, with Fury having a rare height advantage. He said: “It’s a bigger ring, at 24 feet, but I don’t know how it’s going to benefit him because I’ve got much longer legs and I’m a better mover”. That’s all I can tell you.
“Klitschko has got the experience, so if Tyson waits on him, Klitschko will out-box him”. “There is nothing else that we could have done in camp”, said John, who fought as Gypsy John on the harshest of boxing circuits when he was a professional.
Half will want Fury to emerge victorious and the other will be desperate to see Klitschko the undeniable ruler of the heavyweight division shut Fury’s mouth for good.
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“I’ve said since about his eighth pro fight that he can beat Klitschko and I’m sticking with that opinion. There is nothing that I see that Wladimir does that makes me afraid or makes me think I can’t win against this guy”. I’ve never seen him where he needed to have a Plan B over his opponents that he’s been able to control. If they don’t do that, they look to make it through all 12 rounds, just so they can lose on points. “He’s a very flexible fighter ” sometimes he fights in southpaw and sometimes he fights regular. “He has decided on a giant ring, 24ft, so if he doesn’t get me out of there he is going to run away and try to win a decision”. I’m a thinker. I can adapt to any style thrown at me. Every previous Klitschko foe – including David Haye – came across as if they were reading their anti-Wlad media lines from a script. Tyson has been detailed, articulate and, as some of his anecdotes from the face-to-face have proven, disturbingly committed to his cause. Well, Tyson Fury is a decent yardstick. He also needs to be ready to take some shots in the process, if he’s to sustain the pressure long enough to finally drag the champ out of his comfort zone.
