By Terence Dooley
Tyson Fury has told BoxingScene that he is excited about his rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, which was announced earlier today by Peter Fury, the heavyweight world Champion’s uncle and trainer.
Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) will meet Klitschko (64-4, 53 early) in Manchester on July 9. The venue will be announced in due course, but news of home advantage will have given the 27-year-old a boost.
The 6’ 9’’ titlist revealed that he is taking nothing for granted going into the return bout. “I have no idea, you have to see on the night—all I can do is turn up and do my best and if that’s no good I’ll lose, simple,” he said when asked if he feels he gained a psychological advantage before and during their first fight.
“I’ll play it by ear, see how it goes and that’s it. Peter sorts all the game plans out, I just follow them. It is a huge fight for the division, I’m excited about it.”
A second win over the Germany-based Ukrainian would allow Fury to explore other options; he has talked about a unification fight against Deontay Wilder and did not rule out a trip to the U.S.A. to tackle his WBC counterpart. He said: “Hopefully we can look at a big American fight in the future, but I take things one fight at a time—let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”
IBF holder Charles Martin defends Fury’s former title against London’s Anthony Joshua at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night. Fury has predicted a Martin win, but a victory for “AJ” could set-up a money-spinning all-British affair further down the line.
Indeed, Joshua’s world heavyweight title challenge to America’s Charles Martin has grabbed a lot of the headlines this week yet Fury made an impression of his own by questioning whether the Londoner can pick up his former belt then announcing the Klitschko rematch. Earlier this week, he Tweeted that Charles will upset the odds to prompt a mini war of Tweets between him and Joshua.
Joshua's fans have accused Fury of trying to steal some fight week attention. Fury, though, has long maintained that he has always been in the spotlight due to his division, size and outspoken ways—not to mention the fact he has fought on terrestrial TV.
“I’ve been in the limelight since I started as I was on terrestrial television from my first fight,” he said when speaking to Boxingscene earlier this year. “People have recognised me all my boxing life.”
Whoever wins on Saturday, he firmly believes that this is his era and a sculpted body is not a prerequisite of success or a sign of latent talent. I asked if the “Lost generation” of 1980s heavies like Greg Page showed that you could have ability—albeit it underused and abused in their cases—without layers of muscle.
“He did (have talent), but no one knows Page and all them, do they,” he answered. “He was with Pinklon Thomas and all that lot, the lost era. It was a time after [Larry] Holmes that was dull until [Mike] Tyson came along, just like the era we had recently—we had [Lennox] Lewis then Klitschko’s era, now it is mine and all the fighters coming up. I always said I would start a new era—that is why Klitschko avoided me for years.”
He added: “They were comparing Klitschko to them all (the all-time greats) before I conquered him. People were praising his movement and athleticism. Then I came along.”
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