| Tyson Fury | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Luke Tyson Fury |
| Rated at | Heavyweight |
| Height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)[1] |
| Reach | 85 inches |
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 1 June 1988 Manchester, England |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 17 |
| Wins | 17 |
| Wins by KO | 12 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Luke Tyson Fury[2] (born 1 June 1988) is a British professional boxer who fights in the heavyweight division.[2][3] He has represented both his native England and Ireland at amateur level and won the ABA championship in 2008 before turning professional later that year. He is the current British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion beating Dereck Chisora for both titles on the 23 July 2011.
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Fury was born in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England to Irish traveler parents. Tyson's Family is an Irish traveler family who have a long history in boxing and bare knuckle boxing.[4] His father is from Tuam, County Galway and his maternal grandmother is from County Tipperary.[5] He is a cousin of fellow Irish boxer Andy Lee.[5] His father named him "Tyson" after the then world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.[4]
As an amateur, Fury represented both Ireland and England. Fury represented Ireland three times at international level. He initially fought out of the Holy Family Boxing Club in Belfast, Northern Ireland and later switched to the Smithboro Club in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.[6] In a double international duel against an experienced Polish team in 2007, the Irish team lost 12-6 overall; Fury, however, was victorious in both his fights in Rzeszów and Białystok.[7] In another Irish match against the USA, Fury won his bout by knock-out.[8]
He was forced to withdraw from the Irish national championships after officials from the Holy Trinity BC in Belfast, the club of the then Irish amateur heavyweight champion, submitted a protest regarding his eligibility.[8][9] He won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in 2006.[10]
In England, whist representing Jimmy Egan's Boxing Academy, he participated in the senior national championships in 2006 but was beaten by David Price 22-8 despite knocking Price down.[11]
In May 2007, he won the EU Junior Championship representing England, and later lost to Maxim Babanin in the final of the European Junior Championships. As a junior, he was ranked number three in the World behind the Russians Maxim Babanin and Andrey Volkov, but lost out to David Price for a place at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Price was chosen for the 2008 Olympic team ahead of Fury due to Olympic rules restricting each country to one boxer per weight division. Fury also unsuccessfully tried to qualify through Welsh and Irish ancestry, and attributed his failure to qualify for the Olympics as his reason for turning professional, instead of waiting for a chance that might not have come in 2012.[9]
In the absence of Price (who won Olympic Bronze in Beijing) he became national champion (ABA) in 2008.[4]
Fury's amateur boxing record stood at 34 fights, 30 wins, 26 wins by KO, with 4 losses.
Fury turned professional with promoter Mick Hennessy in December 2008 and represents Great Britain[2] and Ireland.[3] His debut came at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham on the undercard of the Carl Froch and Jean Pascal fight for the WBC super middleweight title. In this fight Fury defeated Hungary's Bela Gyongyosi with a first round knock-out.[10]
His second fight was in January 2009, when Fury fought Germany's Marcel Zeller, a man with a record of 21 (20 KO) -3 losses. Fury won the fight by TKO after it was stopped in the third round. On 28 February 2009, Fury beat Russian Daniel Peret by retirement in the second round due to a large cut on Peret's eye in Norwich on the undercard of Jon Thaxton first defence of his European Lightweight title. Tyson beat Lee Swaby by retirement on 14 March 2009, at the Aston Events Centre in Birmingham on the undercard of 'Battle of Brum' where Wayne Elcock defended his British middleweight title against Matthew Macklin. On 11 April 2009, Fury beat Matthew Ellis at the York Hall by knock-out 48 seconds into the first round.
On 23 May 2009, Fury had his first eight-round fight, beating Scott Belshaw by second-round TKO. Belshaw was down twice in the first round, both times by body shots; in the second another body shot was landed by Fury which led referee Richard Davies to call a halt to the contest with 52 seconds of the second round gone.
Fury's next fight was due to take place on 12 June, however he suffered a back injury in training and the bout was cancelled. Fury returned to the ring on 18 July 2009, beating Aleksandrs Selezens in the 48th second of the 3rd round, despite the fight almost being cancelled due to Fury's continuing back injury.
The BBBofC decided that Fury would fight John McDermott for the English title before the end of November, with purse bids to be received before 8 July.[12] The fight was confirmed for 11 September at the Brentwood International Centre.[13]
Fury made an announcement that he wanted the win the British and Irish titles before the end of 2009, commenting that "I’d love to start out with the Irish and English titles and then move on to British, Commonwealth and European titles before going on to the world scene".[14]
Fury felt that his fight against Belfast's Scott Belshaw should have earned him an Irish title but outlined that "I thought it was worthy of it but you need to have been in a scheduled 8 rounder to fight for the Irish belt and the Belshaw fight was my first." A number of potential opponents have been linked with a potential Irish fight, including Declan Timlin and Coleman Barrett. Fury's uncle and trainer, Hughie Fury, claimed "When Tyson was an amateur he was a member of the Smithboro club in County Monaghan but none of the Irish Super heavyweights wanted to know about him and it will be the same in the pros. He’d fight Timlin and Barrett in the same night, they’d be no match for him".[14] Keith Walker, acting as the manager for Barrett responded "Colman will fight Tyson today and every other day. We don’t perceive Tyson Fury has any threat whatsoever".[15]
Tyson said of the pair, "the challenge is out there for them so if they want it then we can get it on for the Irish title as soon as possible. I’ll take on any Irish heavyweight out there, all I want is the opportunity to fight for the Irish title."[16]
On 11 September, Fury controversially beat John McDermott with a disputed points decision. Both boxers stated they would like a rematch. Many boxing observers scored the contest in favour of McDermott, and promoter Frank Warren labelled referee Terry O'Connor a "disgrace to British Boxing" after his decision.[17][18]
On 26 September, Fury made his Irish debut as the undercard of Bernard Dunne versus Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at The O2.[5] He dedicated his performance to the memory of Darren Sutherland.[5]
Fury vacated the English title due to a broken hand sustained in the victory over Tomas Mrazek.
[19] [20] On 26 June 2010, Fury faced old rival John McDermott for the vacant English heavyweight title; the fight would also be a British heavyweight title fight eliminator. Fury started the fight well, catching McDermott with solid punches. In round 6 Fury started to tire and was cut above his right eye near the end of the round after an accidental clash of heads. In round 7 Fury carried on holding McDermott, consequently he was deducted a point by referee Dave Parris. In 8th Fury floored the Essex man with a short right hook. In the 9th round Fury took advantage of a tired McDermott, dropping him another two times before the fight was called to a halt [10][21] at 1 minute 8 seconds of the 9th round.[19] All three judges had the contest 77-73 going into the ninth round. Winning this fight gave Tyson the English Heavyweight title and a chance to face unbeaten heavyweight prospect and British heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora. This fight was held on 23 July 2011. Fury started the game on the backfoot, wearing a few blows in the early rounds and proving his chin could stand up to Chisora's big left hand. But soon punched his way into the game, mainly by out thinking Chisora. Fury took the next few rounds and by the interval was on top, and had landed a big shot to Chisora's mouth causing him to bleed. From then on, Chisora's erratic style played into the hand's of Fury. Fury landing cleaner punches with better combinations ultimately led to him winning by unanimous decision. After the fight, Fury was humble and thanked Jesus and his uncle, saying that Chisora was a warrior in the ring.
Fury went on to fight American Nicolai Firtha at the King's Hall, Blefast, prevailing by TKO when the referee stopped the contest in the fifth round to save Firtha from taking any more punishment.
Fury put his commonwealth title on the line against previously undefeated Canadian Neven Pajkic. The fight took place in Fury's hometown City of Manchester on 12 November.
He was knocked down for the first time in his career in the second round by Neven Pajkic on 12 November 2011, but ultimately won the fight by technical knockout in the third round, knocking down his opponent twice.
| 17 Wins (12 knock-outs, 5 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws[10] | ||||||||
| Result | Record | Opponnent | Type | Round | Time | Date | Location | Notes |
| Win | 17–0 | Neven Pajkic | TKO | 3 (12) | 2011-11-12 | EventCity, Manchester, England | Referee stops fight in third round, defended commonwealth title | |
| Win | 16–0 | Nicolai Firtha | TKO | 5 (8) | 2011-09-18 | King's Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland | Referee stops fight in fifth round | |
| Win | 15–0 | Dereck Chisora | UD | (12) | 2011-07-23 | Wembley Arena, Wembley, London, United Kingdom | Won the British Boxing Board of Control & Commonwealth Boxing Council heavyweight titles. | |
| Win | 14–0 | Marcelo Luiz Nascimento | KO | 5 (10) | 2:48 | 2011-02-19 | Wembley Arena, Wembley, London, United Kingdom | Nascimento down in the first round. |
| Win | 13–0 | Zack Page | UD | 8 (8) | 2010-12-19 | Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Canada | Fury won on points 80-72 on all three score cards | |
| Win | 12–0 | Rich Power | PTS | 8 (8) | 2010-09-10 | York Hall, Bethnal Green, England | Fury won on points 80-72 | |
| Win | 11–0 | John McDermott | TKO | 9 (12) | 1:08 | 2010-06-25 | Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, England | Vacant English heavyweight title and British heavyweight title eliminator. Fury knocked Mcdermott down once in the 8th and twice in the 9th. Fury was deducted a point in the 7th for holding |
| Win | 10–0 | Hans-Joerg Blasko | TKO | 1 (8) | 2:14 | 2010-03-05 | Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England | Referee stops fight after 2nd knock down |
| Win | 9–0 | Tomas Mrazek | PTS | 6 (6) | 2009-09-26 | The O2, Dublin, Ireland | Score 60-57 to Fury | |
| Win | 8–0 | John McDermott | PTS | 10 (10) | 2009-09-11 | Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, England | Won English heavyweight title; points 98-92 | |
| Win | 7–0 | Aleksandrs Selezens | TKO | 3 (6) | 0:48 | 2009-07-18 | York Hall, Bethnal Green, England | Selezens team threw in the towel after 48 seconds of the 3rd round |
| Win | 6–0 | Scott Belshaw | TKO | 2 (8) | 0:52 | 2009-05-23 | Colosseum, Watford, England | Tyson knocked out Belshaw 52 seconds into the 2nd round |
| Win | 5–0 | Matthew Ellis | KO | 1 (6) | 0:48 | 2009-04-11 | York Hall, Bethnal Green, England | Ellis was knocked out after 48 seconds of the 1st round |
| Win | 4–0 | Lee Swaby | RTD | 4 (6) | 3:00 | 2009-03-14 | Aston Events Centre, Birmingham, England | Swaby retired in his corner at the end of the 4th round |
| Win | 3–0 | Daniel Peret | RTD | 2 (6) | 3:00 | 2009-02-28 | Norwich Showground, Norwich, England | Referee stopped fight after 2 rounds due to a large cut on Daniel Peret's left eye. |
| Win | 2–0 | Marcel Zeller | TKO | 3 (6) | 2:50 | 2009-01-17 | Robin Park Centre, Wigan, England | Referee stopped the fight after 3 rounds |
| Win | 1–0 | Bela Gyongyosi | TKO | 1 (6) | 2:14 | 2008-12-06 | Trent FM Arena, Nottingham, England | First professional fight |
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dereck Chisora |
British Boxing Board of Control Heavyweight Champion July 23, 2011 – present |
Incumbent |
| Commonwealth Boxing Council Heavyweight Champion July 23, 2011 – present |
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