Introducing Tyson Fury - Story & Photo Gallery

While American boxing is suffering through a shortage of gifted young heavyweights, there's a giant youngster making headlines in the UK.

Dave Oakes takes a look at Tyson Fury, the 6'7" 250 pound heavyweight from Manchester.

Photos © Justin McKie

click on the images to enlarge.

Tyson Fury sounds more like a name a Rocky villain would have rather than a genuine boxer, but this new kid on the block is certainly one to keep an eye out for. At a towering 6ft 7ins, the Manchester based heavyweight is certainly attracting a lot of attention on this side of the pond. He’s a giant of a man, has a Hollywood name and is unbeaten in the paid ranks, with all five victories coming inside the distance. It’s no surprise people are sitting up and taking notice of him. Mick Hennessy, Fury’s promoter, has been cranking the hype machine up to full speed in his effort to make him well known, but the question remains, can he actually fight? Well, yes, he can actually. He’s got great hand speed, puts combinations together well and has the right mentality to succeed. There are still a few things we don’t know about him, mainly whether or not he can take a punch and how his stamina will hold up over the championship distance. It’s still early days and those questions will be answered in the next couple of years but he looks to be progressing very well in his first year as a pro. I also think he still has some maturing to do physically, that might sound a strange thing to say about such a big man but he looks like he might not hit his physical peak until his mid 20’s. The David Price Rivalry... There seems to be a lot of animosity between Fury and Olympic medallist David Price. Both have been calling for a fight against the other man and both claim to be the hottest heavyweight prospect in Britain. It’s a fight all boxing fans are looking forward to somewhere down the line, although I’d be surprised to see Price taking such a big leap up in class any time soon. I think Fury is the better prospect of the two but with Price’s enormous punch power, anything could happen. The biggest worry for me is that Price loses his unbeaten record before a fight against Fury is made; Price’s weakness around the whiskers is no secret to the gym observers and writers of the British scene. It’s hard to gauge just how good Fury is at this stage of his career but he’s definitely one to look out for. I’d say he’s a good bet to clean up at British level in the next two to three years, but no-one knows how far he’ll go beyond that level. I certainly wouldn’t bet against him going further, he’s got all the attributes needed to be a top class fighter. e-mail Dave Oakes Tyson Fury Photo Gallery Referee John Howard Foster sends Fury to a neutral corner after flooring Bela Gyongyosi in his pro debut. The over-matched Hungarian lasted all of 134 seconds. Fury made it 3-0 with a win over Daniil Peretyatko in February. The bout was stopped after only 2 rounds due to a cut over the Russian's left eye. Veteran heavyweight Lee Swaby, one time challenger for the British cruiserweight title lasted 4 rounds. Swaby took a fair bit of punishment and gave a game effort, and his corner wisely chose not to send their man out for round 5. In Fury's most recent outing on the under-card of the John O'Donnell - Craig Watson show, he took care of Matthew Ellis in only 48 seconds. Ellis, who came in with a record of 20-6-1 was down twice. Matt Chudley's recap: O'Donnell edges Watson Tyson Fury will be taking on Northern Ireland's young heavyweight prospect Scott Belshaw (10-1, 7 KOs) this Saturday on the under-card of the Darren Barker vs Darren McDermott Commonwealth middleweight title fight. The Boxing Bulletin's Matt Chudley will have the preview of that show tomorrow.