Thursday October 14, 2021
Boxing world is looking for the “bear killer”
Who will stop the crazy Tyson Fury
By Martin Armbruster
Who is going to stop this Tyson Fury? This is a question that preoccupies the boxing world after the heavyweight champion’s epic knockout victory over Deontay Wilder. It is a good question. If Fury’s father has his way, there is only one worthy challenger to the “Gypsy King”.
Doug Fischer turned out to be a seer. “Deontay Wilder can send Tyson Fury to the ground,” prophesied the editor-in-chief of the boxing bible “The Ring” before the battle of the heavyweight arch-rivals in Las Vegas. “But he can’t keep him down.” That’s exactly how it happened. In front of 15,000 enthusiastic spectators in the T-Mobile arena, Fury once again revealed his improbable, almost supernatural ability to take devastating blows and recover from them.
“Bronze Bomber” Wilder – for some boxing experts the toughest knockouter in history – knocked him down twice in round four. Twice the 2.06-meter-giant lay down from the island, stretched out his long bones, “tasted” the count of the referee to the full. Shook himself. And hit back mercilessly. “I was fully conscious. I saw the referee count ‘three, four’. I was always there,” said Fury after the spectacle. “But I never thought, ‘Okay, that’s it’. I thought, ‘Okay, good shot, but I’ll get you in a minute.'”
Spurred on by the floor visits, Fury remembered his second great gift besides taking – giving. And how he gave. From the fifth round onwards, the “Gypsy King” mercilessly screwed his opponent apart. With his sledgehammer-like left leading hand. With his right hand, whether as a long straight, as a cross or as a hook in the half distance. In the infight, in which he ceaselessly hit Wilder, literally crushed the American with his 277 pounds (125.6 kilograms) and sucked up his last energy reserves like a vampire.
From premature baby to bear
On lap eleven, Fury’s right paw struck for the last time. Decisive. Definitive. The way Wilder fell to the ground leaves no questions unanswered. The trilogy of great rivals has been decided, the chapter is closed. As so often before, Fury kept his word, bringing his cocky, screaming announcements to life in the ring. He was the “grizzly” he had promised. A bear of a man who walks incessantly and gets up even when a cannonball hits him. Even more: an agile grizzly. Someone who may seem clumsy, but who moves surprisingly light-footed in the ring.
That’s the fascinating thing about this Tyson Luke Fury, who was born three months early as a premature baby and grew up to be a bear. Fury is a complete boxing package that has never been seen before in heavyweight division. A 2.06-meter colossus that moves so quickly and fluently, that boxes so well, that is in such a condition and then an iron-hard chin – that almost borders on distorting competition.
What’s next with Fury? Who can stop the “Gypsy King”? According to the WBC statutes, Fury must next defend his title against the winner of the duel between Dillian Whyte (England) and Otto Wallin (Sweden). Whyte – a powerful boxing clumsy man – appears to have no chance against the fistfighting mastermind Fury. After all, Wallin delivered a bloody battle to a weakening Fury in September 2019, giving the world champion a deep cut. A revenge could be sold halfway, although the southpaw from the far north against Fury in normal form should hardly see any land.
And Anthony Joshua? The British ring darling has long been considered a potential “bear killer”. After Joshua’s clear point defeat by Oleksandr Usyk, it takes a lot of imagination to imagine that “AJ” will seriously trouble Fury. In any case, Joshua has to recapture his WBA, WBO and IBF world championship belts from Usyk in the spring of 2022 to be in a position to fight Fury at all.