The Heavyweight Wisdom of Frank Maloney: On Larry Olubamiwo (prior to his defeat by Daniil Peret, a man stopped in two rounds by Tyson Fury): “I believe in Larry Olubamiwo, I may have discovered another Earnie Shavers” On Scott Belshaw, also stopped in 2 rounds by Tyson Fury: “His commitment and dedication is the same as Lennox Lewis. He will be the richest sportsman ever.”
On Lennox Lewis: “Unfortunately, after what happened in South Africa, no matter whether he gets his revenge over Rahman, he will never go down in history as one of the greats. Lewis will never be up there in boxing’s hall of fame..”
On Lennox Lewis yesterday: “One great World Champion” (When it suits obviously)
Heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury has hit back at promoter Frank Maloney ahead of his English title clash with John McDermott in Brentwood on September 11th. Fury has knocked out all 7 of his professional opponents to date and he’s promising to do the same to McDermott and prove to Maloney that he’s much more than a “rent a quote motor mouth.”
The man once referred to as the “Mental Midget” by Don King has recently been bragging about his involvement with three heavyweight champs, Lennox Lewis, John Ruiz and Nikolay Valuev but Fury is unimpressed.
“Coming from Maloney I think calling me a ‘rent a quote motor mouth’ is a bit rich,” said Fury. “That’s essentially what he was for Lennox Lewis. In my opinion Maloney’s role with Lennox was little more than a court jester. He was basically a mouth in a Union Jack suit running around embarrassing himself like some kind of over excited novelty mascot.
“Lennox Lewis was a great fighter and was destined for greatness regardless of who was involved with him. In my opinion it was a case of him being in the right place at the right time, my pet dog could have done what Maloney did for Lewis and he’s blind and only has three legs.
“As for talking about Ruiz and Valuev if Maloney is such a heavyweight expert how come his involvement with them stopped long before they ever got near the heavyweight title? Claiming those two fighters is in my opinion even worse than what he has claimed to have done for David Haye’s career except that for some reason I never hear David giving him too much credit.
“He’s not getting any better either. He made a big fuss at the start of the year about signing three big heavyweights and he’s already got two of them beaten. He said Scott Belshaw was going to be the next George Foreman and the richest athlete on the planet. He must have meant the richest athlete on whatever planet Maloney’s living on because I blew Belshaw away inside 2 rounds.
“He signed another big guy from Sheffield called Dave Howe to a 3 year contract and he got knocked out in less than a minute by Dave Ingleby, a guy who’s not even allowed to spar with me.”
Fury and Maloney will cross paths in Brentwood next month after Maloney won the purse bids to stage the Fury – McDermott contest. “I think Maloney’s finally realised that he needs a decent heavyweight on one of his shows. He’s probably fed up with seeing his own heavyweight ‘prospects’ fall over and in my opinion his shows lately have been headlined by mostly dull fights between little flyweights and bantamweights.
“You can fool some of the people some of the time and I think even Maloney realises it’s time he put on a decent main event again. It might only be for the English title but it’s interesting that the British Bantamweight title fight between Gary Davies and Ian Napa has been relegated to the undercard so I think that shows what kind of impact I’ve had considering I only turned pro last December.
“I can guarantee you that Maloney will end up with egg all over his face again when I smash McDermott and he’ll be paying me for the privilege of having me box on his show. My own promoter, Mick Hennessy has kept me very busy since turning pro and this is a chance for me to impress a whole new audience.”
Hennessy says he has no concerns about Fury boxing on another promoter’s show. “Maloney comes up trumps for us every few years and I’d like to thank him for helping me to build Tyson’s career even if he doesn’t know it and it’s only for one fight. I just hope there’s no excuses from Maloney and McDermott and they turn up.
“We pushed for Tyson to be made the mandatory for the English title because we wanted the fight. We lost the bid but we’re happy to honour the result of the bids because we want to see Tyson progress.
“It’s a great sign Maloney winning with a big purse bid. The last time he did that was for the Carl Froch – Brian Magee fight a few years back and he was talking rubbish about that one as well.”
SEXTON: ROGAN’S AN OLD BANGER!
Sam Sexton has been grappling with tractors to improve his strength ahead of his rematch with Martin Rogan.
And the Commonwealth heavyweight champion says getting to grips with the heavy machinary will help him beat up another old banger on October 9 in Belfast.
Sexton’s unusual training routine involves him hauling two-ton tractors around the farms of his native Norfolk, along with trainer Graham Everett sitting in the driver seat, as the agricultural community prepares for harvest time.
One recent gruelling session saw him straining for nearly half a mile uphill as he dragged a tractor through a field.
The 25-year-old says he’ll be reaping the rewards at the Odyssey Arena when he stops fiery Rogan for a second time.
This May, Sexton scored a controversial eighth round TKO when Rogan was deemed unable to continue because of a badly swollen eye.
But he insists that this time there will be no doubt about the victor.
“I had a bit of a shaky eighth round, but my new strength and conditioning programme means that won’t happen again,” said Sexton.
“The only way Rogan was going to win this fight was if I ran out of steam, but that’s now gone out of the window.
“He can’t out-box me, he can’t out-punch me and now he can’t out-last me, so he might as well call it quits now.
“Pulling tractors around has been perfect preparation for beating Rogan again.
“They are just like him – powerful machines with a big engine, but ultimately cumbersome, very slow and liable to clap out at any minute.
“The last tractor I was working with really reminded me of Martin because it was a right old banger.
“Believe me, the wheels will really be falling off for Martin when I out box him again. There’s no way that Commonwealth title is going back to Belfast.”
Tickets, priced at £25 (tier), £30 (tier), £40 (central tier), £60 (floor), £100 (floor) and £150 (ringside) are available from:
Odyssey Arena Box Office
02890 739 074
www.odysseyarena.com
Ticketmaster
0870 243 4455
www.ticketmaster.ie
Frank Warren Promotions
01992 550 888
www.frankwarren.tv