THE young trainer tasked with guiding Tyson Fury, the former world heavyweight champion, is Ben Davison. While Fury has not fought since November 2015 and has struggled with a host of issues outside of the ring, Davison maintains that Fury can still physically recover his conditioning and get back to his best. Due in no small part to being “a freak of nature”.
Fury will box a comeback contest on June 9 in Manchester. The trainer explains, “Christian Blacklock, Tyson’s strength and conditioner, we’ve got Tyson’s nutritionist Greg Marriott and obviously myself, it’s been a calculated transition and training regime and you’ll see the best of him during the night.”
“He’s a freak of nature. The things that shouldn’t be there at elite level, his timing, his reactions, those sorts of things that should need fine-tuning with the duration that he’s had out of the ring, are absolutely spot on,” Davison continued. “I’ve had to hold him back.
“If anything I’ve had to hold him back, I had to keep a little bit on weight of him to make sure he doesn’t peak too soon. The phase at the minute that we’re focused on is strength. It’s bit by bit but I’m very happy with how things are going.
“That’s the key thing [weight], I’ve broken it down into phases. He gets a good rest period. That’s one thing I’ve upped with his training regime, his rest and his quality of rest. It’s been very important. I think Frank [Warren, the promoter] has got the right idea there, that in three to four fights will be seeing the best of Tyson. Not overnight. It’s not an overnight thing. But in duration we’ll see the best of him.”
He claims Tyson feels so ready that Fury would go straight into a fight with unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. “That’s what Tyson wants. I’m holding him back. Every trainer has got his own philosophy. Every trainer has got their own philosophy. Little adjustments, little fine tuning here and there, additions to his training regime. It takes time. While I’m adding things to his arsenal, it’s going to take time for those to be set in stone, for him not to revert back to what he knows, which is what fighters do if you rush them. Like I say, in three to four fights, those adaptions will be set in stone and you’ll see the best of him,” Davison says.
Fury doesn’t have an opponent yet for the return. It’s not going to be a high profile, but they plan to get someone who can last. “The main thing is rounds. We need rounds. I don’t want somebody that he’s going to go in there and get into a bit of war with and blast them out. I want rounds. I want him to work on things that we’ve been working on. Each day I’m keeping him mentally stimulated with goals and setting limitations on things in his training. That’s the most important thing, rounds,” the trainer said.
Davison warns, “A happy fighter is a dangerous fighter. He loves his training. The actual art of boxing, I’ve never seen anybody with a passion like it. Obviously everybody knows the business side of things can be very ugly. His passion for the actual sport is like no other. When you’re enjoying your job, you want to go to work, you want to do the sessions and it puts you in a good mood. It puts you in a fantastic place physically and mentally.”
