By James Slater – When it comes to overachieving Belfast heavyweight Martin Rogan, all I would say to any heavyweight contender out there is this: underestimate him at your peril. “Rogie” may be 40-years-old now and he may have been inactive as of late, but he is as tough as they come and he can darn sure fight – just ask British heavies Matt Skelton and Audley Harrison, who were both shocked by the likeable part-time taxi driver.
Well, it sure seems unbeaten, heavily hyped Tyson Fury is at the very least putting on the act of disrespecting Rogan, who he will clash with tomorrow night, with the Irish heavyweight title at stake.. Fury, who admitted he had to shed five stone in weight shortly after a bout of depression at Christmas, told invaluable web site Boxrec.com that he plans to start a “Bum a Month Club,” and that Rogan will be his first victim.
“Joe Louis once went on a “bum of the month” campaign and Tyson Fury is starting his very own,” Fury said, speaking of himself in the third person. “Every four or five weeks I’ll be fighting a bum and keeping busy in the process. I’m not in a rush to fight for world titles because I’m the new blood in the game.”
First of all, Rogan, 14-2(7) is no bum, and second of all, Fury has said before he’d fight once a month, ala his namesake Mike Tyson. But Fury, after a very active launch to his pro career, let his activity levels slide. Isn’t he now at the stage where he should be stepping up his level of competition anyway? If Fury can win the Irish belt tomorrow (and, for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t make big Tyson a dead-cert to beat the hugely-motivated Rogan), shouldn’t he be going in with the likes of the British champ (a belt he has already vacated) as well as the European. Why fight, as he puts it himself, bums?
Fury, 17-0(12) did address the situation regarding he and David Price; a man critics say Fury is avoiding.
“People mention names like David Price and ask me if I would fight him,” Fury continued. “My answer is yes, no problem, but that fight hasn’t happened yet because the business side of the game sometimes comes into play. I’ve got a contract with Chanel 5 which means that I can’t box for any other station. He’s in the same position and it’s not that we don’t want to fight; we do, because we are both fighting men. But if someone else boxes for Sky Sports then we have a problem.”
This kind of thing unfortunately happens too often in boxing today: two rivals everyone would love to see fight one another cannot do so because they fight for rival T.V networks. It’s a real shame because, should Fury get past Rogan tomorrow (again, no sure thing) and should Price get past Sam Sexton next month, the two winners would be ideally suited to meet in a fight that would not only be a big British showdown, but one where the winner would be right in the line for bigger things (maybe a shot at the European title).
Instead, these two natural rivals (who once met as amateurs, with Price winning on points) look set to go different routes. So what kind of names can we expect 23-year-old Fury to face post-Rogan? By his own admission, a load of bums! The bosses at Chanel 5 must be ecstatic.