World Heavy weight challenger Tyson Fury is 2.06 meters tall (6 feet and nine inches) and he usually weighs around 120 kilo's when he fights and that is very impressive. It's Bigger than Britain's former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis. It's bigger than Joe Louis or even the huge George Foreman. It's much, much bigger than the original 'Iron' Mike Tyson or his conqueror Evander Holyfield. It's even bigger than either of the Klitschko brothers, Vladimir and Vitali (The latter now retired). They remain probably the most successful brothers in boxing ever-certainly as heavyweights. But as all these great champions proved on more than one occasion, bigger isn't always better. Indeed, many boxing fans have speculated that if he could be 'Photo shopped' down to the size of a more regular heavyweight would Fury even be a contender? So far as the bookmakers and betting shops are concerned, the answer to that question seems to be emphatically no-and most of the World boxing experts appear to agree with them. If Fury does possess the skills and heart to beat Klitschko he certainly hasn't displayed them so far in his career which has undoubtedly been more hype than substance. So even being the physical giant that he most certainly is he still goes into next week's World Title fight as the underdog. But could he shock us all and turn out to be a modern day "Cinderella man"?
James J Braddock was a 10 to 1 shot back in 1935 when in Madison Square Garden he faced huge hitting Max Baer for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Baer hit so hard that he had once killed a man in the ring (Frankie Campbell) so there was a lot for Braddock to be concerned about. Nevertheless Braddock had studied Baer and knew that if he could just stay away from Baer's hammering right hand he could win and he did just that by a 15 round decision. For this feat he was nicknamed 'The Cinderella Man'.
Could Fury pull off the same upset as 'The Cinderella Man' or will he be brutally exposed and dismantled by Klitschko? Could the bragging Fury be all hyperbole and have his story be more of a 'The Emperors' new clothes' kind of event?
Evander Holyfield beat a much bigger and talented fighter in Riddick Bowe and Mike Tyson beat many men taller and heavier than him-but these guys were very exceptional. They proved in the highest echelons of boxing at least, that it's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog. Fury has now and then shown some flashes of potential in the ring but potential is nothing without dedication and commitment. This is just one of the reasons that makes me think that he will turn out to be more of an Audley Harrison than a James Braddock.
Klitschko is running out of serious contenders and this big money fight makes sense for him now. Fury's reductive rhetoric about Wlad, a display somewhere between farce and malice has surely left Klitschko with a strong desire to dish out physically what has been so wantonly tossed at him verbally by Fury. But I believe he will resist the temptation to rush in angrily when the fight begins. He is a serious Champion these days, methodical in his dismantling of opponents. Fury is, by contrast a banal but predictable character who attracts headlines with his colorful language like Bee's to honey but finally, this is then, a case of The Popular versus The Serious.
Verbal abuse against the opponent in boxing is common before fights since fighting a man with whom you have no real quarrel is somewhat synthetic so the prying cruelty of jibes prior to battle helps to manufacture one. The continual insults hurled at The Champion in this case is most probably mere bravado on Fury's part against the implacable truth that he is really up against it this time, pugilistically speaking.