The Klitschko job – how Tyson Fury won the world heavyweight title

Tyson Fury

โ€˜THE house always wins,โ€™ a wise man once said. โ€˜Unless, 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 Oceanโ€™s 11. Last weekend in Dusseldorf Tyson Fury and his team played their cards perfectly to snatch Wladimir Klitschkoโ€™s world titles on the championโ€™s home turf last Saturday (November 28).

Peter Fury, Tysonโ€™s uncle and trainer, reflected on magnificent job well done. โ€œNobody can say anything,โ€ Peter smiled with quiet satisfaction. โ€œThis guy was undefeated for 11 years. The linear champion, super champion, will go down as a Hall of Fame fighter, coming to Germany, where heโ€™s based, where heโ€™s having all of his career, taking the belts off him here. Tysonโ€™s first real test on the world scene, his first world title shot and thereโ€™s absolutely nothing, no critique, anybody can say. Theyโ€™ve all had to eat their words basically. Theyโ€™ve got it wrong.โ€

There was however always faith within Tysonโ€™s team. โ€œWeโ€™re all very confident. We knew Tyson had the capabilities. Itโ€™s just that mental maturity. Weโ€™ve done a lot of talking about it. Weโ€™ve done a lot, four or five and a half months on this fight and it was not easy getting the tactics for Klitschko. Thatโ€™s why heโ€™s 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.

โ€œAfter about six or seven weeks, he was training, getting fit, we started talking through a few things in the gym, he couldnโ€™t get the shots off he wanted, couldnโ€™t get the right movements. Itโ€™s been a painstaking affair this, to get the tactics right for Klitschko. Itโ€™s taken four, five months, even to the week in [Germany], the build-up to the fight, going over it, walking in the park. โ€˜What 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.โ€™โ€

Very few predicted Fury would get the job done. โ€œWe were all silently confident. We seen it for what it was. Take all the razzle and all the celebrity stays out of it, heโ€™s a normal man with a pair of gloves on and we just saw it as Tysonโ€™s sheer ability and his boxing skills would be superior on the night,โ€ said his trainer.

Peter also emphasised it wasnโ€™t 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. โ€œWhat youโ€™ve got to look at is Wladimir wasnโ€™t able to get his shots off. He was nullified and thatโ€™s not because Wladimirโ€™s had an off-night, like brother was trying to say. Itโ€™s because of what weโ€™ve worked on in the gym. Hundreds of rounds of sparring, donโ€™t forget Tyson had 600 rounds plus of sparring for this fight so heโ€™s perfected everything. Iโ€™ve had people coming at him with every kind of shot under the sun. So heโ€™s perfected nullifying the other opponentโ€™s work. Thatโ€™s what he did last night and thatโ€™s what I was very impressed with. It wasnโ€™t what you seeing Wladimir doing. It was what he wasnโ€™t allowed to do,โ€ the trainer explained.

โ€œBoxing is not called boxing for nothing. Boxing is an art. Itโ€™s a skill, a lot of intelligence goes into it. You need all of these ingredients to be a good world champion. Thatโ€™s what youโ€™ve got to have. Thereโ€™s so much skill involved you have to have and it takes absolutely years and years to develop. Tyson is an elite fighter. Heโ€™s right up there now, heโ€™s 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 couldnโ€™t really enjoy the occasion until the fight was won. โ€œFor 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€œ Peter said. โ€œAll the tactics, his hands behind his back, doing this, doing that, his hand on the ropes, theyโ€™re all tactics employed for Klitschko, not a thing where Tysonโ€™s playing around in there. Thatโ€™s part of our strategy in that fight. He was told to do that. That worked because again it was very offputting, offsetting for Wladimir. Heโ€™s 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. โ€œI think heโ€™ll do similar to what Wladimirโ€™s done at the top,โ€ his trainer concluded. โ€œI think heโ€™ll wipe out everyone in the division.โ€

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