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Last weekend saw the return of Tyson Fury; this time he made his US debut at Madison Square Garden against Steve Cunningham. The bout was for the IBF number two spot at heavyweight and Fury saw the bout as another step closer to fighting a Klitschko brother.
Prior to the bout, Fury, as usual, had big intentions for this fight and he didn’t see Cunningham as any form of threat to him, due to the size and power advantage Fury held over Cunningham.
Fury was quite vocal and disrespectful to Cunningham in the run up to the contest and it was clear from the start of the fight that those words were still ringing in Cunningham’s head as he dropped Fury heavily in round two with a massive shot.
Fury seemed to be quite hyper in my opinion in the first couple of rounds and this was demonstrated at the end of the first frame when he went over to Cunningham and pushed him towards the ropes.
Fury no doubt is an entertainer and he was looking to get his shots out and it cost him because he kept his hands really low and he got tagged by a shot that he didn’t see coming.
The stadium erupted and it was clear that Fury was not going to be in for an easy night after all, Cunningham was starting to stamp his authority on the bout with some crisp boxing and he was hurting Fury with some good right hands.
Cunningham in the past has shown us he is more than capable of boxing his opponents and he has the ability to win rounds through sticking and moving. Cunningham was going forward though in this fight and he was landing some good shots, he knew that he had what it takes to hurt Fury so he pressed the action and made it an exciting fight.
Fury needed to start making an impact in the fight, he had a point taken off him for the use of his head and it was clear that he was trying to rough up Cunningham. He was trying to close the distance on Cunningham, landing his shots; he was using his forearms, elbows and leaning on Cunningham to get him out of his rhythm.
It was not pretty, but by the fifth and sixth round it was clear that Fury was landing a lot more leather, he was frustrating Cunningham with the rough tactics and Fury upped his work rate.
By the end of the sixth round, you could tell that Cunningham was hurt and he was starting to fall behind in the fight. Not on the scorecards however, but the tide was definitely turning in favor of Fury.
Fury, like the previous two rounds, was throwing a lot of shots and was landing some big right uppercuts, he had Cunningham up against the ropes, forced to cover up, but he was still taking big shots.
Fury continued to press the action and the much smaller Cunningham tried to hold on to Fury, but Fury simply pushed him back onto the ropes. Fury then appeared to drag the hands down of an already hurt Cunningham, who was in survival mode at this point, and delivered a massive right hook which sent Cunningham to the canvas.
Cunningham couldn’t beat the count and Fury officially won the fight by a seventh round KO and marches closer to a shot at the heavyweight title.
However, after the fight there has been a lot of criticism towards Fury’s performance for his first US victory. Firstly, Cunningham is looking to appeal Fury’s victory and is looking for a rematch.
This is due to the fact that Cunningham believed that he was fouled throughout the fight and the knockout was an illegal shot. Cunningham will be upset with the outcome because he was looking to improve on his last performance over Tomasz Adameck, which many people believed Cunningham did enough to win.
But the reality for Cunningham is that it is four losses in five fights now and he is slowly taking himself out of the title picture.
I don’t think Cunningham should really look for a rematch with Fury because it was clear that when Fury was pressing the action and kept his hands up, Cunningham struggled to put a dent on his rival.
A rematch would simply let Fury adjust and I don’t see anything except another Fury KO if they were to fight again. I think Cunningham is a terrific fighter and I have always enjoyed watching him, but in the end Fury’s power and size did tell and unless Cunningham wants five losses out of six he should put this Fury chapter to bed and move on.
Secondly, Fury has not received any praise from any other heavyweight contenders. Tomasz Adameck, Bryant Jennings, Chris Arreola and Deontay Wilder were all critical of Fury’s performance and if given the chance, they all believe they could beat Fury.
All of these contenders would be a big challenge that Cunningham and going off this past weekend’s performance, at times you could see why they believe they would have enough power to hurt Fury. Fury would no doubt have to tighten up if he was to fight any of those names as they do have more of a pop than Cunningham.
Thirdly, trainer Peter Fury has been critical of his nephew’s performance against Cunningham. Peter Fury believes that his nephew got caught up in the occasion looking to impress over the smaller Cunningham on his US debut.
Peter believed his nephew abandoned his boxing ability to try and get a big knockout against Cunningham, this was clear in the bout when Fury spent a lot of time chasing Cunningham around the ring.
I believe Fury didn’t expect to get rocked in the second round and he looked to amend that by landing a big knockout punch himself, although he did eventually find that punch it was not Fury’s best performance in terms of looking in control of the fight and he did get silly at times.
I think the absence of Peter Fury would not have helped Fury, although Tyson made it clear that Peter’s absence would not have affected his performance, I do feel that if Peter would have been there he would have got Tyson boxing a lot more and he wouldn’t have let Tyson go out looking the way he did.
I think Peter has had a massive impact on the progress of where Tyson is now in making him a genuine heavyweight contender so no doubt, in my eyes, having Peter absent from his corner would have affected Tyson’s performance.
I do believe that Tyson Fury can improve as he looks to fight for a heavyweight title. Rumors are that Fury is going to face Kubrat Pulev, with the winner of fighting Wladimir Klitschko for the heavyweight titles.
Fury is not bothered in the slightest about his performance against Cunningham and he feels that Pulev would suffer the same as Cunningham if they were to fight and that is Pulev ending up on the floor. Fury feels he did what he has to do to wear down Cunningham and he sees the fight as a great knockout victory in his career.
I believe Fury can look at some positives in the fight that nobody has knocked out the former cruiserweight champion and he did what he had to do to come off the floor himself to get the stoppage.
Fury is still young and I think a lot of people forget that, there still is a lot of time for him to improve and continue to grow as a solid heavyweight. Fury needs to keep gaining experience and I think the fight with Cunningham would have provided good experience for Fury.
The fight is no doubt a learning curve for Fury and it shows that he needs to work on his defense and stick to boxing in fights instead of trying to do everything to get the knockout. Fury has shown us in the Kevin Johnson performance that he is more than capable of boxing for 12 rounds against decent opposition.
I think Fury will have to box and use his height against Pulev, who is a very good boxer and he has been impressive so far. Pulev has shown us against Alexander Dimitrenko and Alexander Ustinov that he can box well against taller opponents and knock them out as well.
Pullev boxed very well in both those fights and going off the last performance of Fury, many people would probably have Pulev as the favorite to do that again. However, I do feel Fury would be Pulev’s toughest fight to date and it wouldn’t be an easy bout for him.
Fury would need to be very focused for the fight as Pulev is a lot better than Cunningham and he would have to avoid being complacent, because unlike Cunningham, I feel Pulev wouldn’t go down as easy.
Fury needs to work in the gym on tightening up on his defense, because he took a few too many shots for my liking. No doubt Peter Fury will have Tyson back in the gym working on this though and getting him back to working behind the jab which was the original game plan for the Cunningham fight.
There is work to do for Fury, but there is no doubt in my mind that he will improve. The Cunningham fight is just good experience and ultimately, I think a lot of people are being critical of Fury.
He did what great champions do and that was react to being put on the floor and come back to win. As promoter Mick Hennessy said, it was a dogfight and Fury did what he has to do to win it.
I look forward to seeing Fury back in the gym and I no doubt enjoyed the fight last weekend. It was entertainment and that is something that Fury is bringing to the heavyweight division.
Love him or loathe I think there is something for everyone who follows boxing in watching Fury in action. I am enjoying seeing him fight and I am looking forward to seeing him back in the ring soon, hopefully against Pulev.
