by Geoffrey Ciani – This week’s 98th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury (12-0, 9 KOs), who recently teamed up with Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward. Fury touched on a variety of topics including his new working relationship with Steward, his desire to face Canadian Champion Neven Pajkic, Pacquiao-Margarito, Haye-Harrison, Froch-Abraham, various moments from his young career, and more. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
On calling out Canadian Champion Neven Pajkic:
“Well I went up to Ontario to see him fight, and after the fight I got in his face and told him that he had to fight me because I wasn’t impressed. I think Canada deserves to see a good heavyweight fight and I’m sure they’re going to see one when I knockout Neven Pajkic.”
On whether he has been impressed with anything Pajkic has accomplished thus far in his career:
“No, he’s beat a few tidy people, but the fellow he fought that night was like 48 years old or 49 years old, and he just didn’t do anything with him at all. I just want to rid him of his title and get in there and knock him out. I’m not impressed at all.”
His evaluation of his most recent victory against Rich Power in September:
“The performance was okay, but it was nothing great. The American public did not get to see how good Tyson Fury really is to be honest, because I damaged my right hand I think in the second round, and I wasn’t really throwing it with any power. I was just trying to get ahead on points and work out, and that was about it really. They didn’t really get to see a good performance from me.”
On where he sees himself in the current heavyweight picture:
“I think I’m a few fights away from fighting for some sort of big title to be honest, because when I beat this Pajkic guy that’s going to put me in the top 20 by the WBC. So I’m closing down. I like fighting undefeated guys because people can’t really say too much because they’re undefeated prospects and they can’t slag me off too much. So after Pajkic I’m going to look to take out another undefeated prospect somewhere in the world, maybe Alexander Ustinov. He’s the Russian European Champion, so maybe him.”
His views on Derek Chisora’s chances against Wladimir Klitschko:
“He’s got a good chance. He’s a young guy. He’s ambitious, but I just think he’s too small and he’s out of his league, to be honest. I think they’re getting him out of the way because he has to fight me because I’m his mandatory for the British and Commonwealth titles. Maybe they’d rather get beaten by Wladimir Klitschko than get beaten by me.”
On how disappointed he was that he was unable to get the chance to fight Chisora:
“Yeah, he’s avoided me until the title shot which is good sense because I’d have beaten him and it would have been for a lot less money.”
On his new working relationship with Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward:
“It’s working out really good. I’ve been over here now for three weeks training in Detroit at the minute, and I’m having a really good time. Training has been going really good. I’ve been working on my balance and movement and stuff and polishing up on different things, and I’m learning a lot.”
On how his new training experiences with Steward compare to his previous training experiences:
“It’s a total different world. Just one-on-one training with Emanuel is very good. You get to learn so much out of every session.”
His views on whether or not he’s already seen improvement in his balance since teaming up with Steward:
“Oh yeah, definitely. When I first got here I would throw the double jab and the right hand and I fell off balance. I wouldn’t be able to come back with anything else. I had to reset again, but now I can throw any punches and be almost set to throw the next one. I’ve been doing a lot of shadow boxing and a lot of technique work on the pads and stuff. So I think I’ve really improved in three weeks.”
On whether he believes Steward can have the same success with him that he had with Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko:
“Well, I think he can because he shows you with the amount of champions he had over the years and he specializes in tall fighters. I think he can work wonders with me, to be honest because I got the type of tools that he likes to work with—I’m fast for a heavyweight, I got good movement and good balance. So with the polishing up that he’s going to do with me as well, it’s going to make me even better.”
His views on Andy Lee as a fighter and whether he believes Lee can someday win a championship:
“Yep, I do. I do believe Andy can be middleweight champion of the world someday soon. Andy’s a great guy and he’s a great boxer. He trains really hard in the gym. He puts everything into it, and I’m sure he’s going to get his break. When he smashes John Duddy up, then he’s going to take the world by storm.”
On what he considers to be his best asset he brings into the ring:
“Well I have great attributes. I have size, speed, and movement, but so far in my career I’ve not been using them at all. I’ve just been going in and boxing like a 6’1” guy instead of a 6’9” guy. I’ve been using a lot of heart and determination to win. I’ve not really been using my ability, so hopefully I can transfer all the things I do in the gym into the ring, and start using my height more and combination punching. I’m a great combination puncher. I like putting punches together in bunches, and I’ve not been doing that recently so I’d like to start doing that again and just boxing behind a nice stiff long jab.”
On what he believes he has learned from his two fights against John McDermott:
“Well for those two fights, for one of them I didn’t have to fight John McDermott. I had seven fights against opposition that wasn’t in John McDermott’s league, to be honest, but I’m the kind of person who likes to take steps in my career and if I’m no good, then I won’t win. That’s the whole thing. I don’t want to be brought along nice and slowly and fight bum opposition and get somewhere, and then get beat straight away. I want to fight hard fights and learn from them. I learned more from the John McDermott I fight than I would have from knocking out ten bums. From that fight, it was a close fight to be honest. I’ve watched the fight a million times and the more I watch it the more I know I won the fight. It was a lot closer than what the scoring was with the 98-92 score line, but I won the fight and I had to fight him again, because I couldn’t have people saying it was a close fight. It was so controversial, but it was good controversial because it brings different things to the table. The second fight was a lot more publicized. A lot more people knew the fight was going to happen and it was just a bigger fight. It was a grudge match and I wanted to go and fight him in his hometown again because I said I would. I like going into the lion’s den to come out victorious. In the second fight I weighed in a career high, not on purpose. I wasn’t worried about where the weight was but I wasn’t over trained. For the first fight I over trained, and over training is a lot worse than not even training at all because you’ve got no snap in your punches. You can carry on forever, but you’re not going to do any damage. So the second time I didn’t over train and it was really hot in there. I got tired, but there was still plenty of snap in punches and that’s what happened. I knocked him out in the ninth round.”
His views on the upcoming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito:
“My thoughts on Pacquiao as a fighter, obviously he’s a brilliant fighter. He’s pound for pound number one in the world, and he’s a super champion. Margarito, well we all know he’s a tough fighter but how much has been taken out of him by his last fight. The guy works off of being tough, taking punches, and wearing guys out over a distance. He’s a good twelve round fighter, but I don’t think Manny Pacquiao’s team would be taking this fight if it was super dangerous. I think something’s going on with Margarito. I think he’s not the fighter he once was, and I think Pacquiao will do him in completely. Maybe a couple of years ago it would have been a different story, but I think that knockout took a lot out of him and I don’t think his chin is the same. If he doesn’t have that style any more, he just can’t up and change his style and go all defensive. If he doesn’t have that on his side, how is he going to beat a fighter like Manny Pacquiao? Although he’s bigger, it doesn’t mean anything because I don’t think he’s the fighter he once was. I think he’s shot. That’s just my personal opinion, and everybody’s got an opinion as you know.”
His views on the upcoming fight between Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham:
“This is the one that’s getting me excited because both fighters like to stand and trade, and I think it’s going to be a hell of a war. Froch looks for someone to stand in front of him and land shots and Abraham likes to do the same thing, but I think Froch is a naturally bigger man. Well I’m hoping and I do think that Froch is going to beat Abraham.”
His views on the upcoming fight between David Haye and Audley Harrison:
“Well, let’s take this into personal details. Haye-Harrison, what do I think of it? I think David Haye is a blown up cruiserweight who shot his mouth off and got himself a world title shot and beat a very poor champion in Valuev. If I got to fight Valuev in Quebec in Canada on the 18th, I’d take the fight no problem. Obviously he’s doing well for himself, he’s talked a good fight, but he’s been avoiding the Klitschkos and he won’t fight them. So David Haye is not a man of honor to me, and he just wants to fight easy fights. Audley Harrison, alright he’s an Olympic Champion which takes some doing to do. He’s a great guy, but what’s he done? He’s won Prizefighter. He beat some novices in the Prizefighter and he knocked out Michael Sprott when he was getting beat all the way through the fight and just landed a bingo punch in the end of it. Really, it could have been Michael Sprott fighting David Hate. I think Haye-Harrison would make a better British title fight than a world title fight to be honest. Audley Harrison, he’s got about as much heart as this phone I’m on so I don’t know where a guy’s going to go like that against someone as ferocious as David Haye. I do think that if Harrison connects on him with any sort of shot he’s gone. David Haye will be knocked out. It doesn’t make any difference to me who wins, because Haye and Harrison are both on my radar and I’m hunting them down. But it’s going to be a good fight. It’s one of those fights you can’t call because it depends on which Harrison turns up, for one. Haye’s a small heavyweight. He can punch, he’s fast, but then again he’s never been hit by a proper heavyweight before and Harrison is a big man. He’s 6’5”, 250 pounds, and if he hits him it’s going to be game over. I just hope Harrison comes out fighting and not being negative and doesn’t want to fight. It could be very interesting because I know if Harrison attacks him at all, he’s gone Haye, because he’s a smaller man and his chin is a bit suspect as well. Can I call it? No, because it’s very, very close on my card.”
His goals for the year 2011:
“To be honest, I think we’re going to have a massive 2011. I’m going to go out in 2010 with a big bang in Canada. Hopefully I’ll be fighting on November 20 as well as December 18. That would make five fights for me in 2010. It’s been a quiet year for me in 2010, although I avenged my controversial win over McDermott with a knockout. That was really good, and I beat undefeated Rich Power. In 2011, I’m a mandatory for the British and Commonwealth titles, so maybe I can sweep these titles up and then I’ll be looking to get a European title shot as well. Also, I’m not just in it for the titles. I want to rid the sport of pretenders. All of these so-called contenders who don’t want to fight— I’m calling them all out. Anyone who wants to fight Tyosn Fury, contact Hennessy Sports and let’s get it on. I just want to fight, regardless of the money, or anything else, or the politics that comes along with boxing. I don’t want to know. I’m not interested. I just want to fight. I’m taking on all comers in 2011.”
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For those interested in listening to the Tyson Fury interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and three minutes into the program.
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