British Boxing News
American heavyweight Kevin Johnson claims time spent in the company of Tyson Fury will serve him well ahead of a proposed April 25 collision with Anthony Joshua – because Fury is considerably better than the former Olympic champion.
Twenty-six-year-old Fury fights Christian Hammer this Saturday (February 28) at the O2 Arena, live on BoxNation, and Johnson was one of his main sparring partners in camp.
The Atlanta-native couldn’t have asked for a better kickstart to his own preparations.
David Price beat Irineu Beato Costa Junior via a sixth round TKO. Like Price, he had 2 losses on his record and was a decent fighter, but at the end of the day this is part of the rebuilding for Price and was a fight he was supposed to win. In 2012, Price was in a great place. He had just stopped domestic heavyweights Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton in a combined 3 rounds to defend his British and Commonwealth straps and was looking for an entry into the top of the world scene. Two back to back KO losses to Tony Thompson and he was back at the bottom and seemed to have nowhere to go. He decided to go through the slow process of rebuilding his reputation and in 2014 banked away three decent wins to start this process.
He was asked if he felt that he was too cautious in the first part of the fight. Many felt that Price was getting in rounds against a guy who was there for the taking and when given a big chance to shine like this Price should have shown himself to be a better fighter than he was on the night. Price replied to this by saying that he couldn’t listen to the people who would have him going in and taking risks from the first round. He wanted to box behind the jab, he wanted to build his confidence and get some rounds in, he wanted to wait for an opportunity before opening up the offence and turning up the pace, and to his credit when he found that opportunity he was brutally efficient.
‘First time I have been properly beat, and first time I have been stopped.’
In an interview with IFL TV after his fight with triple G it was obvious the disapointment that Martin Murray was feeling. He put in a spirited effort and did a lot more than many thought he was capable, but eventually was beaten by the king of the Middleweight division.
Murray showed good sportsmanship in saying it was a pleasure to share the ring with such a good fighter, but felt as though there was nothing more he could do in the ring to pull off the upset. Murray discussed the fact that in his career he had never been put down by any head or bodyshot and dealing with that for the first time in his career, three times in the fight was tough.
photo by S. Heger – Paul Smith, 35-4 (20KO’s), travels back across enemy lines tonight when he faces WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, 41-4 (28KO’s), in Berlin.
It’s been 6 months since the absorbing first bout was marred by some confusing scorecards and in the case of Fernando Laguna’s 119-109 sheet – comical. But, the right decision has been arrived upon and the challenger aims to take full advantage.
“I always thought that this rematch would come. I would be lying if I didn’t think that it might not come off for one reason or another, the only doubt I had really was that he wouldn’t want the fight as he knows that he was in a hard and close fight.
In an era rich in superfluous World title variations the term ‘paying your dues’ just doesn’t carry the same weight as it once did.
Unless of course you’re referring to fighters like Martin Murray, 29-1-1 (12KO’s), who today challenges arguably the most feared man in boxing – Gennady Golovkin, 31-0 (28KO’s) – in Monte Carlo.
It’s Murray’s third World title tilt and his most difficult to date. To say that about a man whose previous attempts came against Felix Sturm in Germany and Sergio Martinez in Argentina illustrates the enormity of the task at hand.
World middleweight title challenger Martin Murray has heard all about the reputation of Gennady Golovkin, his next opponent, and respects the fact he’s widely considered the hardest puncher in all of boxing right now. But that doesn’t mean the Briton is overawed or fearful of the imposing Kazakh.
In fact, rather than hide from the reality of the situation, Murray has instead confronted it head on and says he’s looking forward to sampling Golovkin’s power when the pair clash on Saturday (February 21) in Monte Carlo.
In 2011, heavyweight Tyson Fury fought Nocolai Firtha. This was Furys 16th fight of his career and he stopped Firtha in the 5th round. Interestingly 2 years and another loss later Wilder would also fight Firtha, despite this being his thirtieth fight. From that point Fury has fought another 7 times and out of those eight fights he has stopped 7 opponents. The point I am making here is that Fury was never known as a real puncher considering he fights in the heavyweight division. He now has 17 stoppages from 23 fights which is around a 75% KO ratio.
The news is mostly put down to the fact that Purdy sustained a severed and detached retina in his left eye during a fight with long reigning European Champion Leonard Bundu late in 2013. At the time the extent of the injuries were not know and he was expect to return to the ring in late 2014 or early 2015 and excitement in the UK was beginning to build after it was suggested he could be fighting the winner of Frankie Gavin and Bradley Skeete for the British title.
In an interview with IFL TV Peter Fury, the uncle and trainer for heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury recently had an interview with IFL TV and had a lot to say for his nephew. He started out by saying that preparation was going well for their February 28th bout with top 20 heavyweight Christian Hammer. He mentioned that they were trying a few new things out for this fight, including a lot of additionally sparring.