FURY POUNDS MEAT CARCASS LIKE ROCKY AHEAD OF PARKER SHOWDOWN
WBO World Heavyweight Title Challenger Hughie Fury is preparing for his massive showdown with Champion Joe Parker by punching on a meat carcass like movie icon Rocky.
Fury has based himself at a spartan-style training camp at Lake Windermere for the big fight on Saturday 23rd September at the Manchester Arena and is using a local abattoir to help with his preparations.
The undefeated 22-year-old has been working on his power and combinations by pounding his fists into a 400lb carcass of beef which was made famous by Sylvester Stallone in the legendary film franchise.
In the first movie, unknown Philadelphian fighter Rocky gets a million-to-one shot at the World Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed and prepares for his fight by punching meat in an abattoir.
The Manchester hero has been training spartan-style at his training camp at Lake Windermere with arduous mountain runs, log chopping and swimming in freezing lakes with father and trainer Peter watching on and believes this adds another dimension to his training.
“I love different ways of training to keep things fresh and new and when the owner of the abattoir saw us training in the hills we ended up talking and he mentioned about Rocky punching the meat and said I could come and do the same at his place,” Said Fury.
“I jumped at the chance because, one, the carcass of meat weighs nearly 400 pounds and that is one heavy ‘punch bag’ to slam punches into. Two, its makes a much better sound when the fist connects with the meat, just like in a fight and, three, Rocky is one of my favourite all time movies so to do that myself was a bit of thrill,”
“That carcass has Joseph Parker’s face on it when I’m punching the hell out of it and hearing the ribs and bones crack it makes me punch it harder and harder. Just like Rocky, my white hand wraps end up a bloody mess after a twelve round session on the meat.”
“I’m preparing like never before for this fight and pushing myself to the limits and beyond. There’s no way Parker is leaving Manchester with that World title. I will everything to make sure that belt stays here with me.”
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World heavyweight title challenger Hughie Fury has based himself at a spartan-style training camp at Lake Windermere as he heads into the biggest fight of his life against undefeated WBO Champion Joseph Parker.
Fury has returned to the old, tried and tested method of training like legendary world heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis by setting up camp in the mountains with his father and trainer Peter for his showdown with Parker on Saturday 23rd September at the Manchester Arena.
Whilst thousands of tourists and holiday makers enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the Lake District, Fury is experiencing the flip side and is putting his body and mind through hell in the rough and brutal surrounding terrain to become the first man to beat Parker.
The 22-year-old Manchester star is going through a daily gruelling schedule of long mountain runs and sprints, log chopping, free climbing mountains and lake swimming sessions, alongside sparring and boxing gym session and believes that this will give him the extra edge to become the new WBO World Champion.
“We’ve come up here just to do runs in the past and we’ve always said that this would be a fantastic place to set up a training camp and what better time than now for the world title fight against Parker,” Said Fury, the undefeated WBO mandatory and number one ranked challenger.
“This is absolutely perfect for me, I love the outdoors and the fresh air and the feeling of getting back-to-basics is getting the very best out of me. The greats of boxing like Ali, Dempsey and Louis all did it this way, in modern times we’ve all gone scientific with boxing training, but there’s a lot to be said about training the old way and I feel fitter and stronger than ever before,”
“I’m training at altitude with my some of the mountain runs leaving my lungs burning, I’m pulling tyres attached to my back on uphill sprints, free climbing up the side of mountains that leave my arms and fingers burning and then I’m going for endurance swims and sprints in the freezing lakes,”
“Then there’s the log chopping, it used to be common place for boxers to do this in the past, but it seems to have died out with some boxers going all body beautiful with weights in the gym. It strengthens every muscle in your body from your hamstrings, calves, quads and gluts to your abs, lats, traps, deltoids and pecs while working my cardiovascular endurance,”
“When the hard training is done for the day, then I can just rest and look out at the stunning and peaceful scenery around me, but strangely focus my mind on smashing Parker to bits and tearing the world title away from him,”
“I know that wherever he is training now he’s putting himself through the same to keep hold of his title, but that is pushing me everyday to train twice as hard and go through my physical and mental limits. I know that on the 23rd September he won’t have an answer to what I’ve got.”
Peter is overseeing his son’s training and implementing the fight strategy to defeat the fearsome puncher Parker who has 18 KOs from 23 fights.
He masterfully guided his nephew Tyson to his stunning victory over Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015, who had not been defeated in nearly 11 years, to become the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion and believes Hughie can pull off a similar feat against Parker.
“Ali trained at Deer Lake and many of the greats trained at Big Bear in California, more recently Gennady Golovkin. The benefits are ten-fold training here in Lake Windermere. It’s the best way to train, it’s outdoor, non-polluted, rigorous mountain runs, quarries, tree and log chopping, lakes for swimming, it’s got everything we need. Then we’ve got tremendous indoor facilities as well with the local boxing gym in Windermere and Choices Spa and Health club in Troutbeck Bridge. Hughie will be in the best shape of his life against Parker and more than prepared. Everything thing we do is to win and he’ll be the new WBO World Champion.”
Tickets are priced at £40, £60, £100, £150, £200, £300 and VIP £600 are available from www.eventim.co.uk
Mickey Ellison added to Parker v Fury undercard
Darwen’s light-heavyweight prospect Mickey Ellison (3-1)has landed his dream fight at the Manchester Arena on September 23rd on the undercard of the huge WBO World heavyweight title showdown between New Zealander Joseph Parker (23-0) and Briton Hughie Fury (20-0).
The Blackburn-born boxer gets to perform at the 21,000-capacity sporting arena live on ITV Box Office and is aiming to make a statement with his performance on the Hennessy Sports show.
The 6ft 2” tall 175-pounder said, “I just want to pay the people that have supported me in all my fightsback and put on a good performance for them.
“I train hard anyway but it’s definitely motivated me more in the gym. I see it as an opportunity to get noticed so I’m going to be in the best shape of my life and give it everything I’ve got.”
The fledgling pro will be involved in a four three-minute rounds light-heavyweight contest against an opponent yet to be confirmed.
“It’ll be another four-rounder, probably my last one at four before I step it up to six, but I leave that all to my trainer Alex [Matvienko] and manager Steve [Wood] to decide.
“I’m more than comfortable fitness-wise to do the six rounds, so I don’t see why not if it’s offered.
“They’re looking at getting me an opponent who can come forward and cause problems for me.”
Ellison insists that the bigger stage will not have any effect on his nerves despite the cameras broadcasting live on ITV Box Office.
“Not bothered about those cameras,” he shrugged. “It’s the same as ever for me, really. I don’t think there’s more pressure on me because it’s bigger stage, I’m just going to embrace it and take it all in, and put all of that energy into the performance.”
Ellison stated that he was keen to get back to the ring as soon as manager Steve Wood could find a space for him after his previous win at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool just weeks ago on July 15th.
His experienced manager, head of VIP Boxing, certainly came through for his light-heavyweight charge, landing him the biggest gig of his nine-month professional career to date.
Ellison has already fought four times in eight months and kicks off the new season in September with what will be his fifth fight in 10 months.
The former North West amateur champion debuted last October against the aggressive Bryn Wain (0-13) in Bolton, successfully starting his paid career with a shutout points victory.
He then raced back to the ring again just six weeks later to secure a second points decision against tough Hungarian Krzysztof Golec (1-5-1).
His third fight was against former Central Area titlist Carl Wild (15-26-5)last April, resulting in a close points loss.
Prematurely taking on an Area champion in just his third pro outing was due to each of their travelling opponents withdrawing just one day before their respective bouts, so were consequently paired up.
Ellison realised it was a bit too soon but also saw ‘Born 2 B’ Wild as a winnable fight.
He reflected, “I thought I got the better shots in but he was a bit busier in there, but I’ve learnt more from that fight that knocking out 10 journeymen could ever teach me.”
In an improved and confident performance, Ellison returned to the ring on July 15th to earn a shutout points win over Curtis Gargano (0-39-1) to get firmly back to winning ways.
He said post-fight, “Me and Alex Matvienko have been working on putting a few things that went wrong right. The loss inspired me to come back stronger and want it more.”
Sparring with English super-middleweight champion Darryll Williams in his last training camp helped the 175-pounder to bounce back from defeat stronger and wiser.
Keen to continue the momentum, Ellison has already been sparring with other top names in and around his weight category.
“I’ve just done five rounds with Rocky Fielding,” he confirmed.“I’d say it’s definitely helping me to progress when sparring these guys because they’re all champion sand all currently at a higher level than me.
“I’ve sparred Darryll Williams – an English champion; Rocky – a British champion, and Liam Conroy – an Area champion that’s challenging for the English in his next fight.”
His fifth pro bout will not be the last one this year as the busy boxer plans to fight twice more in 2017.
“I’m aiming to fight twice more before the end of the year,” the 27-year-old said. “My sponsors Winfields and Timbuktu allow me to focus on my career and not to worry about ticket sales too much, which means I can fight as often as I can.”
Ellison concluded with his thoughts on the main event, “I think Hughie Fury wins because he’s awkward. I know he’s got a different style to Tyson [Fury] but they’re both very mobile on their feet. It’s a 50-50 fight on paper but I want Hughie to win.”
Joseph Parker V Briton Hughie Fury
The main event between reigning WBO World heavyweight champion Joseph champion Parker and challenger Hughie Fury has been a talking point for many weeks and will be watched by fight fans around the globe.
Manchester’s Fury insists he will shock the world and prove doubters wrong when he fights for a world title for the first time in his career, keen to follow in cousin Tyson’s footsteps.
The Kiwi was due to face the challenger in his home city of Auckland last May but the 22-year-old Englishman withdrew with a back injury.Parker went on to face Razvan Cojanu beating him widely on points.
The 25-year-old first captured the WBO title in December, two months after Fury’s cousin Tyson vacated the belt in order to focus on his recovery as he dealt with depression.
Fury, who turns 23 just five days before the fight, has not fought since April 2016 when he beat Fred Kassi by technical decision, but now gets home advantage.
Both men are unbeaten in their respective careers, Fury currently has a record of 20-0, including 10 wins inside the distance, while Parker is 23-0 with 18 of those wins coming early.
The headliner will be supported by a 12-round lightweight contest between former IBF Youth featherweight champion Joe Murray (21-2) and Ellesmere Port’s Matty Fagan (11-2).
Another heavyweight will perform on the night as Manchester’s Lee ‘The Grenadier’ Carter (0-2) seeks his first win in the paid ranks.
The event is set to be one of the first to take place at the arena when it re-opens in September following the tragic terrorist attack that took place in May.
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