By James Slater – Unbeaten British big man Tyson Fury, now training with Hall Of Famer Emanuel Steward, will have his first fight outside of his home country on December 18th, as he will face 40-year-old trial-horse Israel Carlos Garcia on the under-card of the intriguing Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins light-heavyweight title clash.
Fury, still only 22 and just 12-0(9) as a pro, hasn’t been quite as active this year compared to his previous two years as a pro, but he will make it four fights in 2010 with the bout against the Puerto Rican with the decent 20-3(11) record. But will Fury, all 6’7” and approx 260-pounds of him, make it to 13-0 a week on Saturday?
It will be interesting to see how many, if any, improvements Steward has made on Fury. Although he is very much still a youngster learning his trade, some critics have given Fury a tough time over some of his fights. Fury has been referred to as “physically soft” and “lacking in stamina.” And it’s true, Fury looked a little fleshy and struggled to get the win both times he met the experienced John McDermott. But those experts who like what they see in the unbeaten hope, point to the fact that Fury dug deep and proved how much he wanted it in both fights.
Against Garcia, Fury will probably get a chance to shine and show off any new tricks he has learnt under Steward. “King Kong,” as Garcia is known, has been in with some good names in his time; the problem is he lost to them. Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola took him out inside three-rounds back in 2008, and unbeaten Russian hope Denis Boytsov stopped the 40-year-old a round quicker the following year. However, as has been noted by fans on this web site, Arreola and Boytsov met Garcia after having had well over 20 pro bouts each. So, for Fury to be facing Garcia, in his Canadian debut, after just 12 pro wins, isn’t bad going at all.
No, Garcia doesn’t figure to test Fury, but at the same time he is not a terrible opponent for the fighter who has already earned a ton of ink in the UK.
Scheduled for eight-rounds, Fury-Garcia will, in my opinion, do well to reach the final bell. Some critics say Fury is more of an arm puncher than anything else, but he has stopped all but three of his “victims.” And even if Tyson doesn’t hit as hard as Arreola or Boytsov, he should be able to get the job done quite quickly on Dec. 18th.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if Fury, really wanting to impress before his biggest audience yet, took Garcia out in the 1st-round.