ROTUNDA ABC look set to enter five hopefuls in the National Amateur Championships this month – including the teenage light-heavyweight with the Hollywood name and boxing DNA.
Callum Makin and Olivia Holmes – last year’s champions at 71kgs and 57kgs respectively – are unlikely to enter and coach Mikey Albertina told Boxing News he was uncertain if Amber Moss-Birch would return to defend her 80 kgs title.
Moss-Birch joined the Liverpool club last year and made a winning return after seven months out at the Winter Box Cup last November and James Dean Fury is another who is now wearing the famous black-and-gold colours previously worn by Tony Bellew and the Smith brothers, Paul Stephen, Liam and Callum.
The 19-year-old made the switch from M31 last year and is set for his second shot at the NACs.
Last year he reached the quarter finals, losing to Dmeji Shittu, the box of tricks from All Stars ABC who went on to win the title.
“I definitely won that fight,” is how Fury remembers the points loss. “He was No 1 and I definitely beat him.”
Shittu has been compared to Tyson Fury in recognition of his unorthodox style and James says his relatives inspired him to box.
“I remember watching my family boxing on television when I was a young lad of seven or eight,” he said. “That made me want to do it myself and seeing my family do it made me think I can do it as well.”
Watch him box and his DNA is obvious.
“I have the Fury style,” said James, who counts Tyson, Hughie and Tommy Fury among his cousins.
“I have a big, awkward style. I switch, I frustrate them, I don’t get hit much.
“I had my first bout at 12, but I didn’t really take it seriously. I stopped boxing for a year or two.”
Fury says it was the loss of his grandfather James that got him back in the gym and led to him linking up with his great uncle, Peter Fury.
“Peter took me in and guided me when I was 13, 14,” he said.
“He knew what to do with Hughie, he knew what to do with Tyson and he knows what to do with me.
“He isn’t training me to win amateur fights. He’s training me to be a world champion.
“I just want to make my grandad proud. One day I will be a world champion. I will turn pro one day and I need to get as much experience as I can first. Peter will know when I’m ready.”
Boxing for M31, Fury won Junior, Youth and NABGC honours.
The way he won the Youth championship boosted his social media following after clips of him flattening Joe Bryant (St Pirans) with a right-hand blast to the jaw were posted on Instagram.
“I have landed that shot a few times,” said Fury. “They have wobbled, but they don’t usually go down like that.”
Fury says he has had “six or seven” stoppages and has reacted well to the loss to Shittu in the NACs.
He won the William Wallace Box Cup in Stirling last July and ended 2024 by winning the NABGC Championship.
Fury won five bouts to win the latter title, outpointing Ehimare Robert in the final a few weeks after the Bletchley boxer had won gold at the King of the Ring tournament in Sweden.
The final was his 35th bout and secured a third national title.
Fury missed out on boxing on his club’s show a couple of weeks ago after picking up an illness and Albertina hopes to get him a match before the Merseyside and Cheshire round of the NACs gets underway.
“I’ve beaten them all before and I will beat them again,” said Fury, looking to becoming Rotunda’s first light-heavyweight champion since Thomas Whittaker-Hart in 2016.
“I’m training every single day,” said Fury. “I have sacrificed a lot. There have been no parties, no nothing. Dedication, hard work and listening to the right people will get me where I want to be.”
Fury says he gets his drive from his doubters.
“Having the name Fury doesn’t win you fights,” he said, “and I have people to prove wrong. People thought I wasn’t good enough to win anything.
“I told my family I will be boxer and they thought I had big dreams and reality would hit me later. People are starting to believe me now.”
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