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Tyson Fury Must Hope to Avoid Same Pitfalls That Bedeviled His Namesake

It is eerily prophetic that when former boxer John Fury’s tiny son came into the world on Aug. 12, 1988, in Manchester, England, three months prematurely and weighing just one pound, the father nonetheless determined that he should be named Tyson Luke Fury, after then-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
The baby, who was hardly assured of surviving an expectedly difficult infancy, not only made it to adulthood, he sprouted into a veritable giant of a man at 6-foot-9 and 260-plus pounds. Even more stunning is the fact that Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury became, like his famous namesake, heavyweight champion of the world, completing a circle of improbability the odds of which had to be Powerball Lottery-winning long.
His immense size alone separates Tyson Fury from that other Tyson, a much more compact fighter who topped out at 5-foot-10 and was at his best at an optimum fighting weight of 217 or so pounds. In terms of their boxing styles, the two Tysons are just as dissimilar, the hulking Fury a dancing bear of a man with decent but not particularly devastating punching power, in stark contrast to the magnificently muscled “Iron Mike,” who in his prime was arguably the hardest hitter in the history of the heavyweight division.
But it is other, less laudatory links between the two Tysons that have raised questions about whether the now-30-year-old Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) can survive a potential crisis of another sort when he challenges WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) in the Showtime Pay Per View main event Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Like that other Tyson, whose spectacular rise to the top of his profession was derailed by a host of physical, emotional, legal and societal issues, the comebacking Briton of Irish descent must demonstrate – if he can – that he has moved past the litany of problems that took down Mike Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion ever at 20, well before the onetime Brooklyn bad boy’s mesmerizing promise should have reached its expiration date. Just as the baby Fury had a premature beginning, so too did the mid-30s Mike Tyson have a premature and disappointing ending to a career that was as spectacular in its flameout as was his too-brief reign as a regal successor to the legendary likes of Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali.
As of now, Mike Tyson, now 52, is not among the celebrities who have confirmed they will be at the Staples Center to witness what many are calling the most important heavyweight matchup since Lennox Lewis knocked out, yes, a severely diminished Tyson in eight one-sided rounds on June 8, 2002, in Memphis.
Tyson lost two of his final three bouts, shocking stoppages at the hands of Danny Williams and Kevin McBride, after the last vestiges of his former aura of invincibility were smashed to smithereens by Lewis. Quitting on his stool before the start of the seventh round against the relatively pedestrian McBride on June 8, 2005, Tyson wearily said, “I don’t have the stomach for this. I don’t have that ferocity. I’m not an animal anymore.”
An acknowledgment of depleted commitment to a sport that demands total dedication was particularly noteworthy coming as it did from Tyson, the snarling beast of yore who, before his watershed, one-round destruction of Michael Spinks on June 27, 1988, in Atlantic City had boasted, “I’ll break Spinks. I’ll break them all. When I fight someone, I want to break his will. I want to take his manhood. I want to rip out his heart and show it to him.”
Such pronouncements of savage, violent domination are more common to knockout artist Wilder, too long and lean to be a physical prototype to Tyson, than to Fury, but the expressions of supreme confidence are more or less the same. Fury has had only two fights over the last three years, a fourth-round stoppage of the relatively unknown and much smaller Sefer Sefari on June 9 of this year and a 10-round decision over the somewhat more formidable Francesco Pianeta on Aug. 18, but to hear him tell it he is as good if not better than he was in his career-defining victory, a unanimous-decision dethronement of long-reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko on Nov. 28, 2015.
“I will stand and prove what I’m going to do to this idiot (Wilder),” Fury said at the London stop of a three-city, two-country media tour to hype the event. “I will punch his face right in for him. Not a problem. Seven days a week and twice on Sunday. If we fought 30 times, I’d win 30 times. That’s how confident I am of beating Deontay Wilder.”
And this, in New York: “He’s a big swinger. OK, he’s knocked a few bums out. He’s had 40 fights and 35 of them have been against total tomato cans who can’t fight back. If he thinks he can land one of those big swinging windmills on my chin, he should think again. After he feels a bit of power and a few stiff jabs in the face, his ass is going to fall out. Around (rounds) eight, nine, 10, welcome to my world. How am I going to let this little, skinny spaghetti hoot beat me?”
There are those who are convinced that Fury’s impressive mobility for such a large man, coupled with the height and heft that has enabled him to wear down opponents by putting his weight on them in strength-sapping clinches, will enable him to flummox the favored Wilder, as he had Klitschko. After that fight in Dusseldorf, Germany, future Hall of Famer Klitschko – who landed just 52 of 231 punches, a puny average of 4.3 per round (and an incredibly low 1.5 power shots), was almost sheepish in saying that “I couldn’t find the right distance to land those shots. Tyson was quick with his hands and his body movement and his head movement. I couldn’t land the right punches.”
But instead of capitalizing on his sudden notoriety and acclaim, Fury appeared to have a mental meltdown that very publicly dragged on for over two years. Not only did he go on an epic cocaine binge and ballooned to nearly 400 pounds (“I got fat as a pig,” he admitted), but he rattled off a series of politically incorrect statements that smacked of sexism (“I believe a woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back”), LGBT bias (“It’s like you’re a freak of nature if you’re normal”) and anti-Semitism (“I won’t be brainwashed by all the Zionist, Jewish people who own all the banks, all the papers, all the TV stations”).
All those missteps were reminiscent of the Mike Tyson who, after having amassed the kind of fortune and fame most fighters can only dream of, lost everything, or close to it, in a downward spiral of self-destruction. That Tyson did two prison stretches, one for rape, consumed copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol, and gorged his way to nearly 300 pounds, which is as unsightly on a 5-foot-10 guy as 400 pounds are on a 6-9 guy. He was fined and suspended by various commissions and sanctioning bodies, and left without a title after the second of his two heavyweight championship reigns ended on an 11th-round stoppage by Evander Holyfield on Nov. 9, 1996. The Mike Tyson of our memories was terrific for a time, but not as terrific as he could have been, and maybe should have been.
It remains to be seen if a victorious Wilder, as a heavyweight with aspirations of greatness, is a reasonable replication of the vintage Tyson – or of Holyfield or Lewis, for that matter – but it’s highly likely that Fury can at least temporarily reclaim much of what he frittered away should he pull off the upset against the Tuscaloosa, Ala., resident with the crushing overhand right that thus far has paid such major dividends. While lost in a stupor of drugs and gluttony, he was first stripped of his IBF title for agreeing to a rematch with Klitschko instead of facing IBF mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov. A bit further down the line he twice tested positive for cocaine, leading to a pair of postponements for the second Klitscho fight that never came off, resulting in his voluntary relinquishment of his WBA, WBO and IBO titles before those organizations could also strip him. His long period of inactivity also led to his being stripped of his lineal and The Ring magazine championships.
To his credit, Fury has sought and received treatment, as did Mike Tyson, from mental health professionals who understand that the line separating preening egomaniacs and manic depressives is thin and easily crossed, depending on circumstances. Although they come from decidedly different worlds, the prejudices and rejection both men faced while growing up shaped them in ways that no amount of success inside the ropes could permanently alter.
For Mike Tyson, much of who he was, is and forever shall be is the result of his upbringing in the blighted Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y., where the poor black child with the lisp found himself an object of derision, finding a measure of solace only in his membership with a street gang, the Jolly Stompers, that hewed to the proposition that if its members couldn’t afford to get what they wanted, it was better to take it by force than to do without. It was a lifestyle that frequently landed Tyson in juvenile hall until boxing offered him a reprieve that never fully removed him from his roots.
Fury’s Jolly Stompers equivalent is his heritage as an Irish Traveller, some 40,000 nomadic people in the United Kingdom and Ireland who never stay long in any one place, moving about as tightly knit caravan communities. But wherever they go, the Travellers are apt to find hostility and hatred. Even after his defeat of Klitschko, Fury was reminded of the taint he presumably bears and might never be able to completely erase. Denied service at a UK restaurant for himself, wife Paris and their three children, Fury complained that “I’m the heavyweight champion of the world and I’ve been told, `Sorry, mate, you can’t come in. No Travellers allowed.”
Whether Mike Tyson is in the Staples Center audience on Saturday night remains to be seen, but he has weighed in on the bout and seemingly is leaning toward the “Gypsy King.”
“Although Wilder’s punch is strong, nothing can compare to the mental strength Fury has shown both in and out of the ring,” Tyson said. “It’ll be a close call, but I think Fury’s got a true fighting chance.”
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Results and Recaps from Madison Square Garden where Keyshawn Davis KO’d Berinchyk

Top Rank was at the Theater at Madison Square Garden tonight. The main event of the 9-bout card was a battle between Olympic silver medalists Keyshawn Davis and Denys Berinchyk. A 36-year-old Ukrainian, Berinchyk was making the first defense of the WBO world lightweight title he won with an upset of Emanuel Navarrete.
Berinchyk, who turned pro at age 27, was undefeated heading in (19-0, 9 KOs), but Norfolk’s Davis, a stablemate of Terence Crawford, is big for the weight and was the younger man by 11 years and the oddsmakers anticipated that the title would change hands.
Berinchyk has an awkward style which lends itself to messy fights and this match was headed in that direction before Davis took charge in the third frame. He put the Ukrainian on the deck with a left to the body and finished the job in the next round with a wicked punch to the liver that sent Berincjyk to his knees, wincing in pain.
He wasn’t able to beat the count and Keyshawn Davis (13-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) emerged the new champion. The official time was 1:45 of round four.
Co-Feature
Xander Zayas, ranked #1 at junior middleweight by the WBO, scored a ninth-round stoppage of hard-trying but out-classed Slawa Spomer (20-1). During the fight, Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) worked the body effectively. Several of those punches strayed south of the border, but it was a legitimate body punch that spelled the end for Germany’s Spomer who was fighting for the first time with Roy Jones Jr in his corner. That punch, a left to the body, was followed by a barrage that led referee Charlie Fitch to step in and stop it. The official time was 2:01 of round nine.
Zayas, fighting for the seventh time at Madison Square Garden, moved one step closer to a title fight.
The first of three fights on the main ESPN platform was a well-matched middleweight contest between Vito Mielnicki Jr and Connor Coyle. In his debut at 160, Mielnicki, the pride of Roseland, New Jersey, seemingly did enough to edge it, but only one of the judges agreed (96-94) whereas the other two had it 95-95, producing a draw. The pro Mielnicki crowd booed the decision.
After the entertaining fourth round, Mielnicki was bleeding from his mouth and Coyle from a cut on the side of his left eye that would eventually bleed more profusely.
The 22-year-old Mielnicki, the younger man by 12 years, failed to win his 13th straight. He’s now 20-1-1. The 34-year-old Coyle, from Pinellas Park, Florida by way of Derby, Northern Ireland, remains undefeated at 21-0-1 and will presumably retain his lofty ranking (#3) in the World Boxing Association.
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The final fight of the ESPN+ livestream showcased the 19-year-old son of Puerto Rican crowd-pleaser Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez, a former two-division world title-holder. “Juanmita” Lopez De Jesus did his dad proud, needing only 59 seconds to put away Bryan Santiago in a super flyweight contest slated for four rounds.
A second-generation Olympian, “Juanmita,” was stepping down in class after coming up short in his last start against two-time gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov in the 2024 Paris Games. He ended the contest with a short left hook that put Santiago (1-2-1) down hard, flat on his back.
Abdullah Mason, a 20-year-old, baby-faced assassin from Cleveland continued his rapid ascent up the lightweight ranks with a fourth-round blowout of Stockton, California’s Manuel Jaimes. It was the fifteenth win inside the distance in 17 starts for the undefeated Mason who has lightning-quick hands and appears destined for great things.
Jaimes (16-3-1) had lasted 10 rounds with perennial title challenger Rolly Romero in his last outing and hadn’t previously been stopped. He was on the canvas four times before referee David Fields waived it off at the 1:55 mark of round four.
Rising welterweight contender Rohan Polanco who represented the Dominican Republic in the Tokyo Olympiad, advanced to 15-0 (10 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Jean Carlos Torres (22-2). The official time was 1:48 of round two.
Polanco, who trains in Boston, decked Torres with a left-right combination in the opening frame and dropped him again in round two with a left hook. Torres was on his feet but on spaghetti legs when referee Eddie Claudio stepped in and stopped it.
Lanky welterweight Keon Davis, the youngest of the three fighting Davis brothers, improved to 2-0 with a second-round stoppage of Kansas City, Missouri plumber Ira Johnson (3-3). Davis had Johnson on the canvas twice before the bout was finished with Johnson showing no inclination to get up after the second knockdown.
Jared Anderson was expected to win as he pleased against unheralded Marios Kollias, but was extended the full 10-round distance by the Greek invader before prevailing on scores of 98-92 and 99-91 twice.
Despite the wide scorecards, Anderson looked very ordinary in a fight that was fought at a glacial pace. Coming off a humbling defeat to Martin Bakole who roughed-him-up and stopped him, the “Real Big Baby” needed a good showing to restore some of his lost luster but failed to deliver while advancing his record to 18-1 (15).
The only drama was whether Kollias (12-4-1) would moon the crowd on a St. Valentine’s Day as his shorts kept slipping down below the wide strap of his rubber groin protector. They never did fall completely down thanks to referee Fields who repeatedly stopped the action to pull them up.
In the lid-lifter, Chicago construction worker Juan Carlos Guerra (6-1-1) scored a split decision over Nico Ali Walsh (11-2-1). Two judges favored Guerra by 58-56 scores with the dissenter favoring Ali Walsh by the same margin.
Guerra was the aggressor and Ali Walsh, whose career has stalled, didn’t have enough steam in his jab to deter him.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 313: Global Cooperation — Golden Boy and Matchroom Boxing

Boxing always spreads the wealth globally.
This weekend, in particular, powerhouse promotions Golden Boy and Matchroom Boxing connect in a super lightweight main event with world title implications on Saturday, Feb. 15. First in Manchester, England, then moving on to Anaheim, California in the USA.
DAZN will stream both cards.
Saturday morning begins in England where native son Jack Catterall (30-1, 13 KOs) meets Southern California’s Arnold Barboza (31-0, 11 KOs) in a super lightweight eliminator to decide who meets champion Devin Haney later this year.
Yes, Haney still retained the super lightweight world titles though starched badly by Ryan Garcia last April in New York. PED results forced the titles to remain with Haney.
Catterall, 31, who fights for Matchroom Boxing, just recently fought and defeated Regis Prograis last October in Manchester. Both traded knockdowns with the clever southpaw from Lancashire emerging the victor.
Barboza, 33, who fights for Golden Boy, recently won convincingly against former world champion Jose Carlos Ramirez when they battled in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this past November.
Also, on the Matchroom Boxing card, will be an interesting super featherweight title match between Reece Bellotti (19-5. 14 KOs) and Michael Gomez Jr. (21-1, 6 KOs) for British titles.
SoCal
As soon as the British boxing card ends on DAZN, the Southern California portion begins with the main card featuring Oscar Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs) against late replacement Miguel Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs) in another super lightweight clash.

Oscar Duarte
The Golden Boy boxing card takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Doors open at 1 p.m. Pacific Time.
Duarte was supposed to fight Regis Prograis, but the former world champion was forced to withdraw due to injury. A week ago, Madueno was selected to take the place of Prograis. It’s now a battle between Mexican sluggers.
Madueno, 26, last fought and lost by decision against Keyshawn Davis. The Sinaloan also lost to Canada’s Steve Claggett. Audiences in Southern California are very familiar with Madueno who fought several times on Thompson Boxing shows in Ontario and Corona, Calif. He likes to bang.
“Duarte is a tough, aggressive fighter who comes forward with power, But I’m prepared for that style,” Madueno said. “This is going to be a battle of two Mexican warriors.”
Duarte, 29, has back-to-back wins over Jojo Diaz and Botirzhon Ahkmedov since losing by knockout to Ryan Garcia on December 2023. The late replacement appeals to Duarte because of his similar fighting style.
“I’m ready for this fight and for this war,” said Duarte at the press conference on Thursday. “He is going to stand in front of me.”
Oscar De La Hoya said that though they regret Prograis was unable to fight, the replacement Madueno offers a stylistic matchup that appeals to fans.
“He’s a very exciting fighter and a hard worker,” said De La Hoya of Duarte. “He is in a tough fight.”
Some of the other interesting fights include welterweight phenom Joel Iriarte, an undefeated fighter from Bakersfield, Calif. Also, super middleweight Darius Fulghum of Houston meets Winfred Harris Jr. of Detroit in the semi-main event. Twelve bouts are planned in Anaheim.
Mohegan Sun – Love and War
On Saturday, at the Mohegan Sun, a solid fight card by CES Boxing is led by Rashidi Ellis (25-1) meeting Jose Angulo (16-9) in a welterweight fight. Also, featherweights Carlos Gonzalez (14-0) fights Alexander Espinoza (23-6-2). DAZN will stream the fight card.
Ellis is based in nearby Massachusetts and has wins over So Cal’s Alex Acosta and New York’s Eddie Gomez. He is a stylish fighter who relies on technique, but can pop.
Felix Sturm
In Germany, former world champion Felix Sturm (44-6-3, 19 KOs) at 46 is fighting Benjamin Blindert (14-1-2, 10 KOs), who is 38 on Saturday at Bayern, Germany.
Yes, it’s the same Sturm who fought Oscar De La Hoya back in 2004. It brings back memories to see the German fighter’s name. I remember when he was first supposed to fight De La Hoya back around 2001 or so. The promoters staged a welcome home media day at the Santa Monica Airport. I remember that day vividly because I forgot to check my gas and barely made it to the airport parking lot. When I returned to the car it would not start. I was out of gas. It took me two hours to get the car started again.
That fight did not happen that year due to an injury by De La Hoya. They later fought in a quasi-middleweight world title tournament a couple of years later. De La Hoya won a squeaker in Las Vegas. Then he fought Bernard Hopkins to unify the middleweight division. Hopkins won.
Sturm was always a very solid fighter. Not a big puncher, but a strong fighter with technique. That’s what has kept him in the game.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Jack Catterall (30-1) vs Arnold Barboza (31-0).
Sat. DAZN 4:30 p.m. Rashidi Ellis (25-1) vs Jose Angulo (16-9).
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Oscar Duarte (28-2-1) vs Miguel Madueno (31-3).
Oscar Duarte photo credit: Al Applerose
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Vito Mielnicki Hopes to Steal the Show on Friday at Madison Square Garden

Vito Mielnicki Hopes to Steal the Show on Friday at Madison Square Garden
Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis headlines Top Rank’s St. Valentine’s Day card on Friday in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Davis (12-0, 8 KOs) seeks to win his first world title as a pro at the expense of fellow unbeaten Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs). An amateur teammate of Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, Berinchyk, 36, became the latest boxer from Ukraine to capture a world title when he upset defending WBO lightweight champion Emanuel Navarrete in his last start.
Xander Zayas makes his seventh appearance at this venue in the co-feature, opposing Germany’s obscure Slawa Spomer. But although Zayas has built a following among Gotham’s substantial Boricua population, the boxer who will almost certainly draw the loudest ovation on his ring walk is Vito Mielnicki Jr. whose bout – his debut as a middleweight — will kick off the three-fight portion of the card that will air on ESPN’s main platform.
The 22-year-old Mielnicki, nicknamed White Magic, hails from the town of Roseland across the Hudson River in Northern New Jersey, a 35-minute drive from Madison Square Garden assuming optimal weather and traffic conditions. He’s been attracting eyeballs since he was seven (but reportedly eight) years old. A photo of him hitting a speed bag appeared in the July 10, 2010 issue of the Newark Star-Ledger. The accompanying story said he was having trouble finding sparring partners.
The photo was taken at an amateur boxing club in Newark where Vito trained under the watchful eye of his father. A former high school sports star, the elder Mielnicki would become a fixture on the local scene as an amateur boxing coach and eventually a co-manager and co-promoter at the professional level.
Vito Mielnicki Jr is a throwback to the days when Italian-American boxers were well-represented in the community of prizefighters and the Garden State produced more than its share. World title challengers Tippy Larkin (Antonio Pilliteri), Charlie Fusari, and the colorful Tony Galento all came to the fore within a few miles of each other in Northern New Jersey.
Mielnicki Jr brings a 20-1 (12 KOs) record into his bout with Connor Coyle. He’s won 12 straight since his “hiccup” in Los Angeles when he lost a close decision to James Martin. A rematch on July 31, 2021 in Newark fell out when Martin came in far over the contracted weight at the weigh-in.
Connor Coyle fights out of Pinellas Park, Florida, by way of Derby, Northern Ireland. A 34-year-old father of three who has a job remodeling kitchens when he’s back home in Derby, Coyle is ranked #3 at 160 pounds by the WBA whose champion is Erislandy Lara.
Although Coyle is undefeated (21-0, 9 KOs), his high ranking says more about the WBA than about him. However, on paper this is a good match-up, a bit of a step-up fight for Mielnicki who wasn’t particularly impressive in his last outing – his first at Madison Square Garden – although he won every round of the 10-round fight on one of the scorecards.
This is Connor Coyle’s first appearance at MSG as a pro. The Irishman won’t lack for rooters and although he lacks a big punch, he will assuredly bring his “A” game.
The tripleheader on ESPN starts at 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT.
Undercard
The gifted, baby-faced lightweight Abdullah Mason who has a very high ceiling will appear on the undercard as will former Olympians Rohan Polanco and Tiger Johnson in separate bouts. Nico Ali Walsh returns to the ring after avenging his lone defeat, gutting out a 6-round decision over Sona Akale in June of last year, a match in which Walsh fought the last two rounds with a dislocated shoulder. Per boxrec, the card will also mark the return of heavyweight Jared Anderson who meets a sacrificial lamb imported from Greece, but the most recent Top Rank press release does not indicate if this bout will be televised.
Undercard action streams on ESPN+ beginning at 5:15 ET / 2:15 PT.
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