In 2011, heavyweight Tyson Fury fought Nocolai Firtha. This was Furys 16th fight of his career and he stopped Firtha in the 5th round. Interestingly 2 years and another loss later Wilder would also fight Firtha, despite this being his thirtieth fight. From that point Fury has fought another 7 times and out of those eight fights he has stopped 7 opponents. The point I am making here is that Fury was never known as a real puncher considering he fights in the heavyweight division. He now has 17 stoppages from 23 fights which is around a 75% KO ratio.
The curious thing about it is that the more he improves his level of opposition, the more likely he is to get the KO. Early in his career we saw him going the distance with guys like John McDermott for the English title but now he is stopping guys like undefeated Neven Pajkic for Commonwealth straps and Dereck Chisora in world title final eliminators.
This could be down to two reasons, the first and more likely is that he is maturing as a fighter and improving his all round game. As he gains experience he is improving his technique and overall is landing punches with increased effectiveness as well as better frequency. A second factor could be that his level of fighting improves when put in with better opposition. This wouldn’t be the first time we see a fighter step his game up when thrown in with more dangerous fighters. Sometimes a stiff test is what is needed to bring the best out of a pugilist.
On top of this it is widely expected that Fury will get another KO in his next bout against top fifteen fighter Christian Hammer. Hammer is a decent fighter coming in with a ten win streak including a win over an undefeated fighter in his last bout. This isn’t the hardest fight out there for Fury, but is a good stay busy fight and one which will really spoil some super fights with Klitschko and Wilder should he lose. Should he get a KO in this one he will be 8 stoppages in his last 9. That’s the type of momentum you want going into the biggest fight of your career.
