โTHE house always wins,โ a wise man once said. โUnless, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big. Then you take the house.โ Well, maybe not a wise man, but at least George Clooney said it in Oceanโs 11. Last weekend in Dusseldorf Tyson Fury and his team played their cards perfectly to snatch Wladimir Klitschkoโs world titles on the championโs home turf last Saturday (November 28).
Peter Fury, Tysonโs uncle and trainer, reflected on magnificent job well done. โNobody can say anything,โ Peter smiled with quiet satisfaction. โThis guy was undefeated for 11 years. The linear champion, super champion, will go down as a Hall of Fame fighter, coming to Germany, where heโs based, where heโs having all of his career, taking the belts off him here. Tysonโs first real test on the world scene, his first world title shot and thereโs absolutely nothing, no critique, anybody can say. Theyโve all had to eat their words basically. Theyโve got it wrong.โ
There was however always faith within Tysonโs team. โWeโre all very confident. We knew Tyson had the capabilities. Itโs just that mental maturity. Weโve done a lot of talking about it. Weโve done a lot, four or five and a half months on this fight and it was not easy getting the tactics for Klitschko. Thatโs why heโs reigned so long at the top. It took a lot of studying. Not watching him – studying his fights, studying and giving Tyson the right tools to get the job done,โ Peter continued.
โAfter about six or seven weeks, he was training, getting fit, we started talking through a few things in the gym, he couldnโt get the shots off he wanted, couldnโt get the right movements. Itโs been a painstaking affair this, to get the tactics right for Klitschko. Itโs taken four, five months, even to the week in [Germany], the build-up to the fight, going over it, walking in the park. โWhat are you going to do if this happens? What do you do when you come to the centre? I want you to rush to the centre. I want you to zig zag in front of him, take it to him early on, switch up, do this, do that.โโ
Very few predicted Fury would get the job done. โWe were all silently confident. We seen it for what it was. Take all the razzle and all the celebrity stays out of it, heโs a normal man with a pair of gloves on and we just saw it as Tysonโs sheer ability and his boxing skills would be superior on the night,โ said his trainer.
Peter also emphasised it wasnโt a case of Klitschko failing to throw punches or up his workrate. Fury prevented him from doing what he wanted to do in the ring. โWhat youโve got to look at is Wladimir wasnโt able to get his shots off. He was nullified and thatโs not because Wladimirโs had an off-night, like brother was trying to say. Itโs because of what weโve worked on in the gym. Hundreds of rounds of sparring, donโt forget Tyson had 600 rounds plus of sparring for this fight so heโs perfected everything. Iโve had people coming at him with every kind of shot under the sun. So heโs perfected nullifying the other opponentโs work. Thatโs what he did last night and thatโs what I was very impressed with. It wasnโt what you seeing Wladimir doing. It was what he wasnโt allowed to do,โ the trainer explained.
โBoxing is not called boxing for nothing. Boxing is an art. Itโs a skill, a lot of intelligence goes into it. You need all of these ingredients to be a good world champion. Thatโs what youโve got to have. Thereโs so much skill involved you have to have and it takes absolutely years and years to develop. Tyson is an elite fighter. Heโs right up there now, heโs landed.โ
The new champion looked like he was having a whale of a time in the ring. Showboating, barracking Klitschko, Fury seemed to shrug off the pressure while it bore heavily on Klitschko. His trainer though couldnโt really enjoy the occasion until the fight was won. โFor me complete concentration just to keep guiding him through it, to watch for certain things but at the same time he was told to get out there and enjoy it,โ Peter said. โAll the tactics, his hands behind his back, doing this, doing that, his hand on the ropes, theyโre all tactics employed for Klitschko, not a thing where Tysonโs playing around in there. Thatโs part of our strategy in that fight. He was told to do that. That worked because again it was very offputting, offsetting for Wladimir. Heโs not seen it before. So basically all these things came into play and a lot more. So very, very happy with it.โ
Their confidence will remain through the Klitschko rematch and beyond. โI think heโll do similar to what Wladimirโs done at the top,โ his trainer concluded. โI think heโll wipe out everyone in the division.โ