Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury is keeping his fans up to date with his preparations and training ahead of his July 9th rematch with Wladimir Klitschko by way of video messages on his Instagram account. And Fury has posted an account of how he was “bladdered” and beaten up in sparring by a light-heavyweight from Belgium he and his team have brought in for speed work.
Fury says in the video that he was put down three times, was cut across the eye and was generally beaten up! Now, as fans know – and are getting to know more and more as time goes by – Fury is a notorious practical joker and it is hard to know when he is being serious. Is Fury merely attempting to play yet more games with Klitschko (who may or may not read about the spar) or is he being down to earth and brutally honest?
“I’ve got some bad news for everybody,” Fury said. “A light-heavyweight kid come to the gym yesterday from Belgium, absolute dynamite. I just thought I could play with him like I usually do and he bladdered me three times, put me down in sparring. Give me a black eye, cut me across the eye, I had no head-guard on and I said he could wear 10oz gloves, obviously because he’s a light-heavyweight and he can’t hurt me, but I found out that speed kills. I hit the deck three times and Peter said, ‘what’s going on?’ I said: Look, I’m a bit overweight, my timing’s not there and my resilience isn’t there at the minute.”
Fury added how the tough sparring will help him in the upcoming fight with the man he dethroned last November, as Klitschko hasn’t got the speed his unknown sparring partner has. But if Fury IS being serious about how tough a time he’s been having of it in the gym (and it’s anybody’s guess when it comes to whether or not he is fooling around) it could prove serious. Or maybe some hard sparring will force Fury to take the fast-approaching return match ultra-serious and put in the hard work. There is still a ways to go before the fight and Fury’s timing will hopefully (for his sake) return as the weight comes off.
A number of great fighters from the past never showed their best stuff in sparring, so this incident may not mean all that much anyway. But once again, the heavyweight champion of the world is giving fight fans some interesting things to talk about! Just who is your money on when it comes to the July 9th rematch that has been dubbed “Repeat or Revenge?”
