Look out, boxing: There is another member of the Fury family on the rise in the volatile heavyweight division.
Tyson Fury, an outspoken, loose-talking, brash Briton, shook up the sport in many ways by beating Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA, IBF and WBO belts in November last year and end the Ukrainian’s nine-year reign as king of the heavyweights.
The boxing world awaits their rematch, but in the meantime, Fury’s cousin — Hughie — is on the rise as a potential champion.
Photo: Reuters
Tomorrow, the unbeaten Hughie Fury meets Dominick Guinn of the US in a WBC International title fight in London. If he wins his 19th straight fight, it will be another step for Hughie toward a world title shot.
Once, it was the Klitschkos dominating the heavyweight division. It could soon be the domain of the Furys.
“We’re looking to clean it up, 100 percent,” Hughie said in a telephone interview from his training camp in the Netherlands. “Eventually I’ll get there, and the Furys will rule the heavyweight division.”
Hughie said he and Tyson are “like brothers,” and spar together before their fights.
“He’s been there for me from the start of my career,” the 21-year-old Hughie said. “Tyson tells me a lot, he tells me what I’m doing wrong, and he gives me advice and I listen.”
However, they appear to have very different characters. Tyson is one of the most colorful and controversial fighters in recent memory, with his antics in and out of the ring grabbing the headlines and often getting him in trouble.
Hughie has had his moments — he was “The Joker” to Tyson’s “Batman” in the latter’s pre-fight stunt at a news conference ahead of the Klitschko bout — but his profile is much lower, at the moment anyway.
“I’m more of a quiet person. I keep myself to myself,” he said when asked if he is as outspoken with his views as his cousin. “I do my talking in the ring.”
Hughie was a world amateur champion at the super heavyweight level in 2012, after which he turned professional. However, his pro career had a setback in 2014, when he was laid off for most of the year for health reasons, with his body being unable to tolerate certain types of food.
It made him feel weak and permanently tired.
“I thought I was never going to box again,” he said. “But I got back on my feet and we are starting over.”
Four straight wins last year, all in 10-round fights, have got him back on track for a potential world title shot if he gets past Guinn, a late replacement for the injured Nagy Aguilera, in what is Fury’s first step up to 12 rounds.
Unlike Anthony Joshua, another upcoming British heavyweight, who has had 15 quick-fire wins on his way to a world title fight against Charles Martin next month, Fury has done things the harder way against more sturdy opponents.
It is a career schedule arranged by his father, Peter, who also trains Tyson.
“I’m more ready than Anthony Joshua to fight for a world title, I’d say. I’ve got experience under my belt, I’ve done the rounds and I’ve fought tougher people,” he said. “Whoever my dad thinks is best, is best. Pretty much now, after I beat this guy, I’m on that [world] level and I’ll be ready. When it comes, it comes.”
So, if all goes to plan and the Furys are both world champions, would they ever fight each other?
“No, family is family,” Hughie said. “You don’t fight blood.”
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