By James Slater – Unbeaten heavyweight hope Tyson Fury will now apparently face Donnell “The Real Touch Of Sleep” Holmes in his U.S TV debut. Originally set to take a step up in class against tough and durable Jason Gavern in his fight to be shown on Showbox: the next generation on September 10th, the 22-year-old will now box the 37-year-old with the impressive-looking 32-1-2(28) pro record..
This has been reported by Dan Rafael on his Twitter page, and the Fury-Holmes fight is up as happening, at originally planned venue The York Hall in London, on Boxrec. Who knows, Holmes, who has been beaten only by Brian Minto (via a controversial Technical Decision), might give Fury a bigger test than Gavern would have done.
At 6’2” and approx 225-pounds, Holmes is no monster heavyweight, and he has never beaten a known name from his weight class. The Minto fight, back in August of last year, is Holmes’ biggest fight to date, and though he boxed well, he ultimately lost (due to a head butt Minto received, forcing the bout to go to the score cards). Despite this lack of wins over big names, though, Holmes, a veteran of 35 pro outings, represents the biggest test yet for the 11-0(9) Brit.
Holmes has won one fight since the disappointing fight with Minto – a 2nd-round TKO over the 11-4 Brad Gregory back in February – and the 37-year-old who turned pro in 2003 can both box and punch. Possessing a nice left jab, Holmes, if he’s in shape (was he already getting in condition for another fight, or will the short notice bout Vs. Fury see him come in under ready ?) could even ruin the Fury hype machine.
Remember, the 22 was given all he could handle by John McDermott in his last fight (a 9th-round stoppage win in June). Is Holmes a better fighter than McDermott? A good number of fans would probably answer yes to such a question.
Holmes has never fought outside of the U.S before, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the probably hostile, London, pro-Fury crowd. If he can handle this, however, and if he is in good shape both mentally and physically, Holmes could give Fury problems he’s never before encountered. A distance fight looks a good bet (the fight is scheduled for just eight-rounds) but who will win over the sole scoring referee?