Britain has a new heavyweight champion of the world: Tyson Fury!
The 27-year-old Fury caused one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history when he beat 39-year-old champion Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fury clinched the WBA Super, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles, with the three judges scoring the bout as follows: 115-112, 115-112 and 116-111, all in favour of Fury.
And one wonders whether he will seek a unification bout with WBC champion Deontay Wilder. On the evidence of his performance in Dusseldorf, there is no reason why Fury cannot take on Wilder too.
The British champion joked about and got involved in the traditional trash talk in the build-up, and even on Saturday threatened to call off the bout due to “too soft” padding problem in the ring. It was quickly sorted out, with a layer of foam apparently being removed to make the ring surface firmer.
But you can’t hide in the heat of battle, and Fury never took a backward step to the experienced Ukrainian. The Briton looked cool and calm from the start, moving well despite being an even bigger man than Klitschko – Fury had a three-inch height advantage and a reach that was four inches longer.
It had an effect all night long as Klitschko battled to land punches, maintaining his position on the outside and looked to capitalise in the later rounds.
But strangely enough, Klitschko hardly threw any meaningful jabs, and didn’t employ his usual “slow poison” tactic to wear down his opponent.
In contract, Fury kept himself busy, moving well around the ring and switching to southpaw every now and again to unsettle his more experienced opponent.
The turning point probably came in round five, when Klitschko developed a cut under his left eye following a clash of heads. Fury seemed to gain confidence from seeing his opponent’s blood, and soon landed a solid right hand that saw Klitschko holding on to cushion the blow.
Fury resorted to unusual “tricks” such as putting both his arms behinds his back, dropping his left arm significantly lower during round seven and landing with close-up punches.
At that stage Klitschko was weirdly lethargic, but eventually found some fire in the ninth round as he landed a great right hand, which rocked Fury and saw him wobble a bit. But in the same round, the Briton threw a vicious left hook that caught Klitschko by surprise as he appeared to turn his back on his opponent.
The fight lacked serious action as both boxers didn’t really land any big punches, and only found its spark in the 11th round as Fury threw a powerful left hook that was flush on the new cut that had developed around Klitschko’s right eye.
Not even a points deduction by the referee against Fury for hitting Klitschko behind his head could deter the Briton, who went into full attack mode in the final round.
He threw several punches that saw Klitschko trying desperately to survive, and the veteran summonsed his last bit of energy to throw a big right hand that rocked Fury. Both boxers were out on their feet at the end, but even though Fury looked like a clear winner, Germany is Klitschko’s second home and there is always a chance of a “home-town decision”.
But the judges were fair, and Fury can now be named in the same breath as other British heavyweight world champions such as Lennox Lewis – who was at ringside – David Haye and Frank Bruno.
Fury then broke out in song after the result was announced, belting out Aerosmith’s “I don’t want to miss a thing”. He sang it well, and didn’t miss a beat in the ring either.
@IndyCapeSport