Tyson Fury To Return This Friday, Rematch With John McDermott Set To Happen In May

by James Slater – Exciting heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury, at one time in his still fledgling pro career, was boxing once a month, just as his hero, Mike Tyson, did at the start of his pro career. But just lately fans have not seen the 21-year-old in action, with Fury last appearing in a ring back in September. Due to his damaging a hand in the September points win over Tomas Mrazek, along with big Tyson changing trainers (now being looked after by the knowledgably Brian Hughes along with former top pro Pat Barrett), the approx 6’7″ fighter has had the longest inactive spell of his boxing life..

But, according to Steve Bunce in talking on last Friday’s edition of his excellent weekly instalment of the Lee Phelps boxing podcast, Fury will return to action against a TBA this coming Friday on the under-card of the Gary Sykes-Andy Morris British super-featherweight title fight in Huddersfield. Of more importance, is the news Bunce gave us regarding Fury’s long awaited rematch with John McDermott. A highly controversial points winner over “Big Bad” John in September of last year, Fury will face McDermott on May 22nd in Manchester.

So, assuming Fury, 9-0(7) has no slip-ups on Friday (impossible to say if he will or not as we don’t know who he’s going in with yet, or for how many scheduled rounds) the rematch of the most controversial British fight of last year will at last go ahead.

McDermott, the older man by nine years at age 30, and currently 25-6(16) has not fought since losing on that ridiculously wide 98-92 score last year, while Fury had that one fight with Mrazek. Could there be a chance, then, that McDermott will be a little ring-rusty come May 22nd? If not, and if McDermott has kept himself in good shape in the gym, another hard night surely awaits the heavily hyped Fury. It really will be interesting to see how hooking up with ultra-experienced trainer Hughes will have helped Fury.

Reportedly having had a ton of good quality sparring recently, we know Fury has been working hard. And if he has learnt a lot from Hughes, and if his technique has been polished, the man who is already pretty much a household name in the UK among boxing fans could surprise McDermott in May. Certainly, though he lost the fight in the opinion of a good number of people, Fury showed heart and desire in the win over the former three-time British title challenger. With better overall skills to go along with this heart and desire, Fury could well go far in the future.

It will be good to see Fury back in action on Friday, and it will be even better seeing him back in there with McDermott in May. Will Fury get the job done in style this time around, or will McDermott once again prove to be too experienced, too tough and too good for him? Either way, I think another distance fight looks a good bet.