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Fury has excellent defense. Movement that makes it very difficult to reach him but also general defense that even if you do reach him, you can't land square.
Except when three things happen.
1. Fury tends to duck down when a combo is coming his way. He leaves his head vulnerable for a split second on the way back up. The only punch that could feasibly do anything is a cross or a lunging hook, because he leans backward, every time. Even Paulie called it out.
2. Fury will make every effort to avoid punches from the opponent's power hand, but just deflect or smother punches from the opposite hand.
When he fought a Ben Davidson-trained, overly defensive Fury, what got Fury dropped was a combination of #1 and #2, due to Fury's defensive style. Notice the sequence:
Fury goes to deflect what looks like a straight jab but is just a feint by Wilder, then gets nailed by that right hand, but because Fury tries to go down to smother it and lessen the impact of it, the left hook gets him on the way back up. Since he was already in backwards motion and since the left hand isn't Wilder's power hand, it wasn't going to keep Fury down. That's why Fury's eyes were wide open looking at the ref the whole time. He wasn't "knocked out". Buzzed, yes. But that's all.
But then #3...
3. Fury's defense suffers greatly when he's mid-throw. It doesn't even matter what he's throwing, he does a terrible job of defending himself while throwing a punch if the opponent is in range.
#3 is the one that I think works best in Wilder's favor against a Sugarhill Steward-trained, more aggressive Fury.
I went back and reviewed other fights. This is Fury's single Achilles heel - when he goes on the offensive, he's extremely vulnerable if the other person has enough activity and power to do something about it.
One of Tyson's early fights was Neven Pajkić - who never officially retired but who only ever lost to Tyson. The first one to put Tyson on his ass. Look at the sequence:
Pajkić was arguably robbed by a trigger ref in that fight and Fury would not agree to the rematch. Possibly because he didn't want Pajkić exploiting this weakness...?
USS Cunningham sequence. Notice - Tyson is doing the same combo, again fails to protect himself and gets nailed by (essentially) the same shot, same hand (the right).
After these two fights Fury adopted a heavily defensive fight style and wasn't dropped again...until Wilder/Fury 1.
Think about that. Deontay Wilder figured out the loophole that even Grabomir Clinchko, once considered the #1 guy in the division, couldn't figure out for Fury. Wilder couldn't exploit in the rematch because Fury basically upped the aggression and reverted back to before the shift.
But an aggressive Fury is a vulnerable Fury, if Wilder ups his aggression and lures him into a mistake.
In watching the sessions with Wilder and Malik, I believe Malik is teaching Wilder how to goad Fury into war and set him up to eat a shot just like Pajkić and Cunningham landed. If he lands the right flush like those two did and he's got full power behind it, I don't think Fury survives much longer.
Yes, this all depends on Wilder showing up with the right strategy. But it also depends on Fury being overconfident, and just like with Pajkić and Cunningham, that may very well be the game changer for a Wilder upset of the lineal champion.
Except when three things happen.
1. Fury tends to duck down when a combo is coming his way. He leaves his head vulnerable for a split second on the way back up. The only punch that could feasibly do anything is a cross or a lunging hook, because he leans backward, every time. Even Paulie called it out.
2. Fury will make every effort to avoid punches from the opponent's power hand, but just deflect or smother punches from the opposite hand.
When he fought a Ben Davidson-trained, overly defensive Fury, what got Fury dropped was a combination of #1 and #2, due to Fury's defensive style. Notice the sequence:
Fury goes to deflect what looks like a straight jab but is just a feint by Wilder, then gets nailed by that right hand, but because Fury tries to go down to smother it and lessen the impact of it, the left hook gets him on the way back up. Since he was already in backwards motion and since the left hand isn't Wilder's power hand, it wasn't going to keep Fury down. That's why Fury's eyes were wide open looking at the ref the whole time. He wasn't "knocked out". Buzzed, yes. But that's all.
But then #3...
3. Fury's defense suffers greatly when he's mid-throw. It doesn't even matter what he's throwing, he does a terrible job of defending himself while throwing a punch if the opponent is in range.
#3 is the one that I think works best in Wilder's favor against a Sugarhill Steward-trained, more aggressive Fury.
I went back and reviewed other fights. This is Fury's single Achilles heel - when he goes on the offensive, he's extremely vulnerable if the other person has enough activity and power to do something about it.
One of Tyson's early fights was Neven Pajkić - who never officially retired but who only ever lost to Tyson. The first one to put Tyson on his ass. Look at the sequence:
Pajkić was arguably robbed by a trigger ref in that fight and Fury would not agree to the rematch. Possibly because he didn't want Pajkić exploiting this weakness...?
USS Cunningham sequence. Notice - Tyson is doing the same combo, again fails to protect himself and gets nailed by (essentially) the same shot, same hand (the right).
After these two fights Fury adopted a heavily defensive fight style and wasn't dropped again...until Wilder/Fury 1.
Think about that. Deontay Wilder figured out the loophole that even Grabomir Clinchko, once considered the #1 guy in the division, couldn't figure out for Fury. Wilder couldn't exploit in the rematch because Fury basically upped the aggression and reverted back to before the shift.
But an aggressive Fury is a vulnerable Fury, if Wilder ups his aggression and lures him into a mistake.
In watching the sessions with Wilder and Malik, I believe Malik is teaching Wilder how to goad Fury into war and set him up to eat a shot just like Pajkić and Cunningham landed. If he lands the right flush like those two did and he's got full power behind it, I don't think Fury survives much longer.
Yes, this all depends on Wilder showing up with the right strategy. But it also depends on Fury being overconfident, and just like with Pajkić and Cunningham, that may very well be the game changer for a Wilder upset of the lineal champion.
SN!PER
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