By his own admission, heavyweight champ Tyson Fury struggled to remain motivated after his big November win over Wladimir Klitschko. The new champion piled out weight, wasn’t really interested in talking about boxing and even suggested he might retire, claiming he had done everything he had set out to do. True, we never know when Fury is being serious, but some fans wondered if the hard to figure out 27-year-old meant it when he said he’d done all he’d wanted to.
But now, in speaking with Sky Sports, Fury has put any such retirement/lack of motivation talk to bed. “My desire is back,” he said today from his training camp. “I’ve got that fire back in me.” Maybe what Fury needed to get himself going again was the hard work of training camp. Fury is currently in day-5 of his rematch preparations, yet he has Tweeted how he has already shed close to 10-pounds. With well over two months to go until the first bell rings, Fury, we can assume, will enter the fight dubbed “Repeat or Revenge” in top fighting shape.
Klitschko, who started training camp some weeks ago, has put out a Tweet of his own, in which he wrote:
“On July 9th at Manchester Arena I’ll have my revenge. It’s time to get the strongest I’ve ever been. #NowMoreThanEver”
Tickets for the rematch go on sale next week and fans are hoping for a far more exciting fight than they got the first time round. With Fury relocating his desire and with Klitschko fully understanding better than anyone that this fight must be win lest his career end, both big men will surely unload far more punches than they did in November. Fury has spoken about how he will stand and slug with Klitschko, in an effort to see who is the bigger puncher/tougher man. If Fury means what he says and if he goes through with such an approach, the fight will certainly be exciting.
In the first fight, we never really found out what would happen if Klitschko’s vaunted right hand connected flush on Fury’s jaw. Klitschko did land with some shots, but his output was minimal and disappointing. With everything at stake on July 9, the thinking is, Klitschko simply has to do more. Maybe Fury’s chin can stand up to anything Klitschko is capable of dishing out though. We might find out in July.
But if Klitschko is more aggressive, he will give Fury openings, and we know how Wladimir’s chin has let him down in past fights (years ago now of course). Fury’s punch output was also less than spectacular five months ago, and it will of course be interesting to see how well Klitschko can counter Fury if he does come forward and attack more.
Repeat or Revenge? Many fans will settle for a good action fight.