Tyson Fury: If I can’t beat Pianeta, then I’m going nowhere

Boxingnews24.com

By Trevor McIntyre

Tyson Fury (26-0, 18 KOs) says he has his mind fully on his opponent former two-time heavyweight world title challenger Francesco Pianeta for this Saturday at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Fury, 29, says if he loses the fight to the southpaw Pianeta, then it means he’s not going to be able to beat the rest of the top fighters in the division like Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. That’s the ultimate goal for Fury’s comeback. He wants to beat Joshua and Wilder and unify the heavyweight division.

This Saturday, Fury will be fighting on the undercard of Carl Frampton vs. Luke Jackson. Fury is expected to come in lighter than he did for his comeback fight last June against Sefer Seferi. A flabby looking Fury weighed 270 pounds for that fight. That’s 25 pounds heavier than what Fury weighed for his fight against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. If Fury comes into the Pianeta fight at 270, he’s going to have problems with the mobility of the German based fighter.

It’s tough for Fury to stay focused on the task at hand against Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KOs) because he’s got a much bigger fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) staring him at the face. Fury and Wilder are in negotiations for a fight in November in Las Vegas, Nevada. The money that fight will generate for Fury dwarfs the money Fury will be making this Saturday night against the 6’5” Italian Pianeta.

“If I can beat Francesco Pieneta, I’ll have beaten another boxer. Big deal,”Fury said. “If I can’t beat Francesco Pieneta then I’m going nowhere because it’s not a world title fight — it’s a comeback fight. If I can’t beat him [Pieneta] then I’m not going to beat the rest of them.”

The way that Fury looked in the 1st round in his comeback fight against former cruiserweight Sefer Seferi, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if he loses to Pianeta. Fury looked slow, hittable and not nearly as sharp as he needed to be for him to defeat a top level heavyweight. Pianeta is not a world class heavyweight at this point in his career, and you can say that he never really was a true top level guy. Pianeta was given two world title shots against Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev.

Pianeta’s best career wins came against these fighters:

– Oliver McCall – 47-years-old when Pianeta beat him

– Frans Both – 44-years-old when he fought Pianeta

– Matt Skelton

– Johann Duhaupas

– Scott Gammer

Aside from a big payday coming up against Deontay Wilder, Fury is unlikely to go anywhere even if he beats Pianeta with ease on Saturday night. The 6’9” Fury never really proved himself even before he stopped fighting for 2 ½ years. Fury’s only real win years ago came when he beat Wladimir by a 12 round decision in 2015. Wladimir was tied in knots mentally for the fight with Fury, and he never really much of an effort to win the fight by letting his hands go. A good heavyweight like Wilder, Joshua, and Alexander Povetkin would have little problems pressuring Fury and beating him.

Fury would need to be highly mobile against those types of heavyweights for him to come out on top. He doesn’t seem capable of moving around the ring enough to get past those types of fighters. Fury won’t need to use his legs against the light-hitting Pianeta on Saturday because he’s not a puncher and he has a shaky chin. If Fury lands anything of substance on Pianeta’s chin, he’s likely going to knock him out. Pianeta was knocked out in the 7th round by former Fury victim Kevin Johnson last year in October. Johnson is the same fighter that Fury beat by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in December 2012, and Joshua beat by a 2nd round knockout in 2015. Pianeta losing to Johnson shows where he’s at in terms of talent.

“Francesco Pieneta is a very dangerous opponent but me, being in my mind, I believe I’m the greatest heavyweight that’s ever been born so I need to handle Francesco Pieneta and whoever else — Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, whoever else — all the bums out there,” Fury said.

Fury wants to win a world title and defend it with the same amount of success that Joe Louis had during his reign as a heavyweight champion. Joe Louis was a very busy fighter during his time as a heavyweight champion. If Fury is to find the same amount of success as Louis did, he would need to capture a world title and defend it every two months. Given how difficult it is for promoters to negotiate fights in this era, it’s unlikely Fury will be able to squeeze in the same amount of title defenses Louis did during his long reign as a champion.

Pianeta has the size and reach to give Fury problems potentially, but he’s not likely to hurt him unless he catches him leaning forward after h throws a punch. Pianeta has been scoring more knockouts lately than any time in his career, but that’s likely the result of him facing weaker opposition. Pianeta’s recent knockouts in the last three years have come against these fighters: Daso Simeunovic, Ozcan Cetinkaya, Edi Delibaltaoglu and Hasan Olaki. Those fighters were mostly prospects. Pianeta was guaranteed to stop those guys. The last well known fighter that Pianeta has knocked out was Matt Skelton in 2009. That was nine years ago. Going nine years from stopping a decent level fighter is a huge gap, and suggests that Pianeta is not a puncher at all. That’s bad news for him, because that’s likely the only shot he has of beating Fury on Saturday. Fury is going to slap Pianeta around the ring for 10 rounds if he’s not able to hurt him with anything.

“I’m going to go out there, smash him to pieces, make Italian sausage out of him. I’m going to give him the best hiding he’s ever had,” Fury said.

Deontay Wilder will be at ringside on Saturday for the Fury-Pianeta fight. There’s a very good chance that Wilder and Fury will be fighting each other next on November 10 or November 17 in Las Vegas, as long as Fury doesn’t slip on a banana peel against Pianeta. Despite having a big title opportunity just over the horizon, Fury maintains that he’s not looking past the southpaw Pianeta. You never know though. Pianeta is a rangy heavyweight with similar size, power and mobility as Fury. This could be a tougher fight for Fury than

“If I come through this, Wilder gets the chance to fight me for the lineal championship,” Fury said.

Fury vs. Wilder is going to be huge for November as long as he does the job on Pianeta first.

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