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Steve Cunningham, Who Almost Kayoed Tyson Fury, Believes Wilder Will Do It
If you want to call Tyson Fury’s style “Greco-Roman boxing,” that’s probably as good a description as any. Like most exceptionally large heavyweights who dwarf smaller opponents with significant advantages in height, weight and reach, an important element in Fury’s standard fight plan is to initiate multiple clinches, to lean on those figurative Lilliputians until their strength saps and, gasping, they become increasingly vulnerable to standard boxing tactics in the later rounds.
Hey, if it worked for the even more gigantic but far clumsier Nikolai Valuev (50-2, 34 KOs), a two-time WBA heavyweight champion, why shouldn’t it work for the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) when the former unified titlist challenges WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) on Dec. 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles? At 6’7” Wilder is almost tall enough to look Fury straight in the eye, and his impressive 83-inch reach is nearly a match for Fury’s 85-inch tentacles. But Wilder, who was comparatively lean even at his heaviest-ever official ring weight of 229 pounds, came in at an almost-skinny 214¾ for his most recent defense, in which he had to fight through several scary moments before stopping Luis “King Kong” Ortiz, who outweighed him by 26½ pounds, in the 10th round on March 3 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The differential in heft will be even more pronounced should the free-swinging Wilder find himself wrapped up time and again in Fury’s tactical bear hugs.
But two-time former cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, maybe more than anyone, understands that Fury’s strengths can be at least somewhat negated by the sort of advantages Wilder, an opening-line minus-160 favorite, holds over his hulking rival. Some of Wilder’s attributes are reasonably similar to those of Cunningham, who dropped and hurt Fury in the second round (that’s Fury on the seat of his pants) before being stopped himself in the seventh round of their April 20, 2013, bout at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. But Wilder hits a hell of a lot harder than Cunningham, which is the main reason why Cunningham is picking the Alabamian to finish the demolition job he might have shockingly pulled off 5½ years earlier had he been able to connect with just the right follow-up shot to a clearly buzzed Fury.
“In my fight with Fury, he totally underestimated me and we capitalized on that,” said the 42-year-old Cunningham, who has since dropped back down to cruiserweight and is still presumably active, although he has not fought since losing a 10-round unanimous decision to Andrew Tabiti on Aug. 26, 2017. “I was able to catch him when he was goofing off and playing. Even after he got up and got serious, I was still able to catch him coming in. I’d maneuver to put myself in a better spot to do that.
“So we know Fury can get knocked down with a big shot. I’ve done it.”
He did it despite not being known as a big hitter, but massive power is and has always has been Wilder’s calling card. With a knockout percentage of 97.5 that almost looks like a typographical error, Wilder, the super heavyweight bronze medalist for the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, never goes into any bout expecting it to go the distance. If he hits Fury with the same sort of shot that Cunningham did, it’s a good bet that the big, burly Briton won’t beat the count, and even if he does he might not be able to recover from it as quickly as he did against Cunningham.
“With Fury fighting Wilder, I can’t go against Wilder,” Cunningham said. “I can’t really go against Wilder against any of the top heavyweights, including Anthony Joshua. Why? Because Wilder has that great equalizer, a sledgehammer of a right hand. We all know that once that right hand lands – and it’s going to land at some point in a 12-round fight – the outcome is pretty much a done deal.”
But what about Fury’s frequent clinches, which not only can fatigue the other guy, but frustrate him as well?
“I don’t see Fury’s weight being an issue because Wilder has good movement and he can box better than a lot of people think,” Cunningham continued. “Yeah, I know Deontay can look a little goofy and undisciplined at times, but he hasn’t been made to look like the boxer he’s capable of being. We’ve seen glimpses of it here and there, but he’d probably have to show more of that against Fury until the opening comes to him to deliver that great equalizer. No matter how I size it up, I see Wilder stopping Fury with that right hand. He keeps launching it and launching it and launching it until the big one connects.”
Fury has a back story – uh, make that stories – that has probably made him more recognizable and marketable than his relatively unexciting, albeit victorious, performances merit. He was a preemie as an infant, coming into this world at a little over a pound, making for exceedingly long odds of his even making it to childhood, much less filling out to his current gargantuan dimensions. There is the burden of his being an Irish Traveller, a group that is widely reviled in the United Kingdom but nonetheless holds a certain fascination to the public. And if all that weren’t enough, there is the epic cocaine-and-eating binges that he went on, and now has come back from, after he stunned the boxing world by outpointing long-reigning and lineal champion Wladimir Klitschko on Nov. 28, 2015, in Dusseldorf, Germany. A serial utterer of coarse and controversial quotes who fancies himself a better singer than fighter, Fury is a media darling right up to the time the bell rings and his crackling pre-fight wattage generates less electricity inside the ropes.
But it is a mistake to lump Fury, whose dad named him after Mike Tyson, with the robotic, lumbering and monosyllabic Valuev. He does have a skill set, and one that extends beyond his array of wrestling moves.
“Size doesn’t equate to boxing ability,” said Cunningham, who was up 57-55 on two of the official scorecards and even 56-56 on the other at the time he was knocked out by Fury. “It also doesn’t equate to punching power, not really. To Fury’s credit, he’s pretty athletic for such a big guy and he comes in shape, or at least he did when I was in camp with him (as a sparring partner) and fought him later on. He had a rowing machine and he rowed on it like a maniac. He did other things that were kind of unique. I remember thinking, `Wow, this guy does have a good engine in him,’ so he was capable of going a lot of rounds. If you don’t get him out of there early, he will use that size to wear you down. Because of that, the only two current heavyweights I see who are capable of knocking him out are Wilder and Joshua.
“Him being so much bigger than most of the guys he fights, I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t take a toll on you. Guys who fight Fury now, or who fought Valuev then, would train to be able to better cope with the wrestling and the holding. They’d train to not get in those type situations as often. Before I fought him, I knew Fury liked to lay on opponents. I sparred with big guys in camp for four or five weeks, but they weren’t that big and I just wasn’t able get anybody to really replicate him.
“My plan was to use my legs as much as possible to stay away from him, but I was coming off my second fight with Tomasz Adamek in which I felt I had done enough to easily win on points (Cunningham lost a disputed split decision). So you get it in your mind that, hey, maybe I should just try to knock (Fury) out instead.
“I had my chance. Wilder, I believe, will get his chance as well. Will he put the giant down and out? That’s my pick. But we won’t find out until fight night, will we?”
Bernard Fernandez is the retired boxing writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. He is a five-term former president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, an inductee into the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Atlantic City Boxing Halls of Fame and the recipient of the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism and the Barney Nagler Award for Long and Meritorious Service to Boxing.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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