In a little over two weeks time, Britain’s Tyson Fury, will attempt to dethrone longtime world heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, in Dusselfdorf, Germany, claiming ahead of the fight that the champion will not only be easy to hit, but that he is clearly feeling the heat in the build up.
Fury, at 6’9″, believes his height, reach and youth advantage (he is almost 12 years younger) will be instrumental in overcoming what is arguably Klitschko’s greatest asset – experience, and says he has definitely unsettled the champion in the build up, something he feels helped bring about the minor Klitschko calf-strain that put the fight back a month.
“I won’t find him hard to hit like everybody else does,” Fury told telegraph.co.uk. “His greatest wins have come over David Haye and Alexander Povetkin. They’re both 6’2 in or 6’3 in guys. They’re small, a lot smaller than I am.
“I’m very tall and I’ve got a four inch reach advantage on him as well. A lot of things swing in my favour, but one things he has that outweighs me a lot is experience. He’s had 60 odd professional fights compared to my 24. That’s the equaliser, I’d say.”
Another thing Fury feels is also to his benefit, is that Klitschko no longer has the wisdom of the late Emanuel Steward in his corner, rather relying on Steward protégé, Johnathon Banks, someone Fury sees as a poor and pale imitation of the esteemed former Kronk legend who died in 2012, questioning Bank’s ability to keep Wladimir on track and focused should things begin to go against them on the night.
“You just wonder what [Klitschko’s] going to be told when he goes back to the corner and he can’t land his shots or he’s getting caught more than he’s ever been caught,” Fury added. “I believe I’ll hit Wladimir more times than he’s ever been hit before purely due to my size, athleticism and speed.”
Fury’s trainer and Uncle, Peter, has whipped the Morecambe native into fantastic shape ahead of the contest, and Fury has delighted in posting snaps on social media that do indeed attest he is in the best shape of his career.
He will need to be switched on from first bell until last against arguably one of the finest natural athletes in the game, who even at 39, carries one of the biggest right hands in the business and has recently signed a 5 fight extension with his German broadcast partners, RTL, signalling he isn’t intending on rolling over and calling it a day just yet.
When the two fighters eventually meet on the 28th, Fury has promised one thing – he is going to give it everything he has to fulfill his ambition of becoming world heavyweight champion.
“This is the final hurdle along a long, long racetrack. I’ve finally made it to where I want to be and I’ve been given the opportunity that I didn’t believe I’d get.,” he said.
“I’ve only got one more step and there’s only one man with a pair of boxing gloves on standing in my way. Am I about to let it slip or will I grab it with both hands and seize the moment? We will find out.”
Twitter @undilutedpoison