By Keith Idec
Paulie Malignaggi admits Tyson Fury hasn’t looked particularly impressive in his two fights since ending a 2½-year layoff.
Nevertheless, the retired two-division champion cautioned those that are doubting Fury’s chances against Wilder to avoid basing their opinions on those forgettable victories over Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta. Malignaggi discussed the Wilder-Fury fight, scheduled for December 1 in Los Angeles.
“I don’t think Fury’s a guy that should be underestimated,” Malignaggi, a Showtime analyst, told BoxingScene.com. “I don’t think he looked that good going into the Klitschko fight, yet he was able to dominate Klitschko. So I don’t think you can even take recent form and say, ‘OK, based on the way he looks, he can do this and that against Wilder, or not do this and that against Wilder.’
“I think one thing Fury’s shown us is don’t judge him for past performances. Judge him on the night, because you never know what you’re gonna get with him. Having said that, Wilder is a tough proposition right now. Coming off the biggest win of his career [a 10th-round TKO of Luis Ortiz], having to overcome adversity, he’s a confident guy. And he feels like he can beat anybody in the world. So I’m excited about the matchup.”
In his comeback bout, Fury stopped Switzerland’s Sefer Seferi (23-2, 21 KOs) after four essentially useless rounds June 9 in Manchester. The Manchester native comfortably out-boxed Italy’s Francesco Pianeta (35-5-1, 21 KOs) to win a 10-round unanimous decision in his next appearance, August 18 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Before he upset Ukraine’s Klitschko in November 2015, Fury hadn’t boxed in exactly nine months.
In his previous fight, he skillfully out-boxed Germany’s Christian Hammer before Hammer declined to continue following the eighth round. Fury had won each of the eight rounds on all three scorecards and dropped Hammer in the fifth round.
Though the challenger for Wilder’s WBC title, Fury technically remains boxing’s lineal heavyweight champion because he didn’t lose the titles he won from Klitschko in the ring. Fury vacated the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles after his rematch versus Klitschko was canceled a second time.
The 6-feet-9, 255-pound Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) gave up his titles because he needed treatment for alcoholism, depression and cocaine addiction. By the time Fury defeated Klitschko by unanimous decision, Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) already owned the WBC crown.
Showtime Pay-Per-View will air their 12-round championship match as the main event of a four-fight telecast from Staples Center.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.