By Terence Dooley
Frank Warren promotes Tyson Fury’s return to the ring at the Manchester Arena this Saturday night and the promoter has admitted that he was unsure if we would ever see the former heavyweight world titlist in a boxing ring again.
Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) returns on a card headlined by Terry Flanagan’s fight against Maurice Hooker for the vacant WBO light-welterweight title yet at one point it seemed unlikely we would ever see him again.
Warren, though, has told John Dillon of the i-Independent that despite a near-three-year absence Fury will be able to recover his old form after rediscovering his love of the sport, and he believes that his man has the beating of Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
“I wasn't convinced at first,” he said. “But now he is head and shoulders above WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO holder Anthony Joshua and WBC boss Deontay Wilder. Joshua would have a big problem against him because he is easy to hit. His defence is not good enough. Wilder wouldn't even lay a glove on Fury. In their hearts, they know it, too.”
He added: “But if Tyson and Joshua ever meet in a world title fight, it would be one of the biggest events in British sporting history. Right up there with the 1966 World Cup final. I've been a promoter for 37 years and I never, ever thought there would be the possibility that two home-grown British heavyweights could meet here in front of 90,000 people. But it could happen in future. In fact, even now people can't stop talking about the idea of it happening."
Fury meets Albania’s Sefer Seferi over 10 three-minute rounds as he seeks to start from scratch and ease himself back into the contention. The linear Champion has vowed to remain active this year and return to the heights he reached when out-pointing Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015. A battle against the UKAD, a backdated ban, now served, and battles with depression and substances has kept Fury out of the ring, if not the limelight, and Warren is firmly in his corner after working with the BBBoC to restore Fury’s licence to fight here in the U.K.
“I have to be honest, I wasn't a fan until he beat Dereck Chisora for the second time in 2014,” said Warren.
“He had beaten him on points three years before but Chisora was in much better shape second time around. He had taken Vitali Klitschko the distance in 2012. And he was coming off a run of five good wins. Tyson absolutely took him to school. He didn't lose a second of any round.”
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