Tyson Fury looking horrible on mitts

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: A workout video of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury was put on BoxNation’s website this week, and I must say he looks terrible. An overweight Fury looked painfully slow and overweight in hitting the mitts. I realize that Fury just started his training to but I was still shocked at how out of shape he is. Fury looks like he’s well over 300 pounds in the video.

The way he was waddling around and getting out of breath after a few shots, I have my doubts whether he’ll ever be able to get back to the level he was at back in 2015 when he beat Wladimir Klitschko. Even in that fight, I think Fury was showing signs of decline. It wasn’t the same Fury that beat Steve Cunningham in 2013. Fury was faster and more youthful in the Cunningham than he was in the Klitschko fight.

The video from this week looked like an elderly man that had literally climbed off a couch to bang the mitts at a local gym. I just don’t think Fury is going to be able to burn enough weight for him to be the fighter he was. George Foreman was over 300 pounds when he decided to return to the boxing ring in the 1990s, but he was a big puncher.

Foreman still was unable to take all the weight off to get down to the mid-220s that he fought in during his prime years. During Foreman’s comeback to boxing, he routinely fought in the 250s, and looked very fat. Foreman was effective at times in his comeback, but he still lost to Evander Holyfield, Tommy Morrison and Shannon Briggs. Those are guys that a prime Foreman likely would have beaten with ease.

Here’s the workout video of Fury:

Fury also posted this message on his Twitter about how he wants to dedicate himself to boxing. He acknowledges that he let some people down. It’s good news that Fury plans on dedicating himself to the sport and his training. Hopefully, he sticks to it this time and doesn’t miss another 2 years of his career. You don’t usually see fighters lose it so quickly after the hit it big for the first time. You can count them to at least fight another big fight rather than disappearing immediately after they hit it big the way Fury did.

Fury has a lot of work ahead for himself, and I have some doubts whether he’ll be able to ever get back to where he was. Right now, Fury looks worse than Riddick Bowe did when he laughed his comeback in his 40s, weighing as much as 280. Bowe looked like body beautfiful compared to Fury’s present condition. That tells how incredibly overweight Fury is right now. Even if Fury takes the weight off to get back down to the 250s, it’s unknown whether he’ll be weight drained and too weak to do much against world class competition.

WBA will possibly allow Anthony Joshua a “Special permit” to sidestep Luis Ortiz if he beats Wladimir Klitschko

World Boxing Association president Gilberto J Mendoza says that the winner of this Saturday’s fight between IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko could potentially sidestep the WBA mandatory Luis Ortiz if there’s an important fight that can be taken instead. A rematch between Joshua and Wladimir might be a possible fight that Mendoza would say yes to. I don’t think Wladimir would be interested in a “special permit” to avoid fighting Luis Ortiz the way that Joshua might.

I don’t know why the 27-year-old Joshua would want to sidestep Ortiz, because it’s not as if there’s a pressing concern about needing to get to a different fighter before they retire or anything. Joshua has a lot of time left in his boxing career, so he shouldn’t have to get a permit by the WBA to avoid fighting Ortiz. I say Joshua take the Ortiz fight and then fight whoever he wants to after that, be it Tony Bellew, Dominic Breazeale or whichever beatable guy that Hearn fancies for him.

“If it’s a great fight, certainly we can’t rule out doing it again,” said Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn to skysports.com.

If the fight isn’t a great one, then Hearn will move Joshua along to some other target. Hopefully, it’s someone younger than 41, and someone dangerous and willing to mix it up with Joshua like Luis Ortiz.

Just what would be considered important by the WBA is the big question. If Joshua wins this Saturday night and decides he wants to fight Dominic Breazeale, Michael Sprott or Gary Cornish again, will the WBA bend over backwards to allow Joshua to pad his record against one of those guys instead of defending his WBA title against Luis Ortiz? It seems to me that Ortiz is getting up there in age at 38. I don’t know that he should be made to wait any longer than he already has because we don’t want the guy to age out waiting for his mandatory title shot.

“The winner is entitled to ask for a special permit if the event merits it. But Ortiz is the mandatory contender,” said Mendoza to skysports.com. “It’s in writing that Luis Ortiz should be the next opponent for the winner. I know sometimes boxing allows things to happen in a different way – it would have to be something very important to consider [Ortiz not fighting the winner].”

It’s up to Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn who he’ll put him in with next if he wins against Klitschko. Does Hearn trot out one of his fighters like Tony Bellew for Joshua to fight and then he’s given a free pass for that mismatch by the WBA? I’d hate to see Ortiz passed over for his title shot just so that Joshua can bat Bellew around the ring for four or five rounds before knocking him out. I think Ortiz is the best possible opponent Joshua can face in the contender ranks right now. If Joshua wants to take on someone better than Ortiz, then he can face Deontay Wilder in a unification fight. I think the boxing world would jump all over a Joshua-Wilder fight if Hearn were willing to make that fight. Thus far, Hearn hasn’t been eager to make a fight between Joshua and Wilder. I can understand why. Wilder can hit you back and he’s got the kind of power that would be a real show stopper for Joshua if he landed flush with one of his big right hand bombs.

There’s a small possibility that Joshua might have to vacate one of his titles if he beats Wladimir, because both of them would be pushing him to defend against their mandatory challengers.

I think the WBA will ultimately green light whoever Hearn wants Joshua to fight next. I doubt that Ortiz will get a shot anytime soon. I think Hearn is taking the same approach with Ortiz as Golden Boy is with Gennady Golovkin as far as stringing the Saul Canelo fight out into the future rather than making it while Golovkin is still relatively still young at 35. Ortiz is 38, and he’s been waiting to fight Jacobs for some time now.