By Rob Smith: Tyson Fury (18-0, 13 KO’s) weighed in at the lowest weight of his career during Friday’s weigh-in for his bout against 38-year-old journeyman Vinny Maddalone (35-7, 26 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Hand Arena, Clevedon, Somerset, UK. Fury, 24, weighed 245.5 pounds, which was a quarter pound lighter than his last weight in his mismatch against 41-year-old Martin Rogan last April.
That’s the fight that Fury fought in the southpaw stance the entire fight and easily won by a 5th round TKO. When you take fights that are so easy that you can win fighting in a southpaw stance then you really need to not be taking that fight in the first place. I’m not sure what’s going on with the matchmaking for Fury, but I think they need to step it up soon before he develops a lot of bad habits that are going to get him knocked out when he finally faces his first quality opponent.
Maddalone, 38, probably isn’t going to be good enough to beat Fury, but you never know. Fury’s defense is still pretty horrible and he has a habit of turning his head to the side when he’s about to get hit with a head shot. I can only imagine what would happen to Fury if he fought Wladimir Klitschko and he pulled that number..
Fury should be able to obliterate Maddalone without any problems. However, if Fury clowns around and starts fighting southpaw, we could see Maddalone pull off an upset. Fury is a decent fighter, but he doesn’t realize how limited he is yet. Once he faces his first quality opponent and loses, perhaps we’ll see Fury go back to the drawing board and learn some skills. I kind of doubt it. I think he is what he is and won’t change from here on out.
Weights:
Tyson Fury 245.5 – Vinny Maddalone 232.5
Lee Haskin 117.25 – Stuart Hall 117.75
Chris Eubank Jr 162.6 – Terry Carruthers 162.7
Lenny Daws 137.75 – Dean Mills 141
Phill Fury 149.5 – Andrew Patterson 150.25