Tyson Fury Unloads: Tears Apart "Dodgy Chin" David Haye

Boxing Scene Lee Collier25th November, 2009

Tyson Fury has been pretty quiet of late. After winning a disputed decision to grab John McDermott's English heavyweight title in September the 21-year-old fighter made his Irish debut against Tomas Mrazek just a few weeks later. It was a fight in which Fury seemed to struggle his way to a points victory and it was later announced that he had broken his hand.

Fury returns to action in Brentwood this Saturday night on the undercard of the Darren Barker and Wayne Elcock British middleweight title fight, Fury fights in a six round contest that will be broadcast on ITV4.

Taking only eight weeks for a broken hand to recover could be seen as a risk for the 6' 7'' Manchester heavyweight, as any setbacks could further delay his rematch with John McDermott. BoxingScene.com caught up with Fury after a training session to talk about his upcoming fight and what the future holds for the charismatic fighter.

"The hand is quite recovered, it's not 100% recovered but it's on its way so I am just to use Saturday night to test it out and see how it feels," revealed Fury to BoxingScene. "I am fighting Yavor Marinchev. I don't know much about him apart from he's had about 30 fights and has never been stopped so it will be some achievement if I can stop him. I know he fought Larry Olubamwio last Friday and took him the full six rounds."

Fury was back training in Manchester after training under Rob McCracken for one fight. Pat Barrett is now training Fury at Brian Hughes' world famous Collyhurst gym. He said: "I have been with Pat Barrett for 2 weeks, and we have been working on my speed and technique, just working on snapping the punches and not hitting them hard. That's all we have really had the time to work on."

Fury then went on to explain why McCracken would not be training him anymore. "The reason I left Rob was because the distance I had to travel was too much", explained Fury, "it was 50 miles and a 90 minute drive and if the traffic was bad it could take two hours so it wasn't ideal. Rob's a fantastic trainer and a top bloke too, it's just a shame about the distance."

Many fighters stick with one trainer throughout their whole careers, possibly only changing after suffering a defeat. Fury on the other hand has taken a different approach.

"I picked up a lot of experience going around using different trainers. If you stay with the same trainer you can only learn what they know, but if you travel around you learn what other trainers know, and you take it all in and pick out the bits you want to use," he declared.

"I think it's benefited me a lot more than if I had stayed with one trainer. I have experience of my Uncle Hughie, Steve Egan, Rob McCracken and now Pat Barrett. I have gained experience from sparring top guys in Germany and from seeing how their trainers work. I have been training here but Pat doesn't have a licence to go in the corner so I don't know what's going to happen, it isn't something we needed to discuss."

Fury was crowned the English heavyweight champion after only nine fights when he beat John McDermott by 98-92 on referee Terry O'Connor's scorecard. Fury has come in for some criticism for his performance on the night; many people think that McDermott was robbed. The BBBoC ordered a rematch, which is still in the pipeline.

"I have been told its January so I am looking forward that one, I am going to get fit, get in shape and do a number on McDermott. It wasn't that I wasn't well prepared last time, I had too much training too close to the fight, I was flat and didn't have any snap in my punches," explained Fury.

"I felt knackered on the night, after one round I felt knackered, it wasn't that I was unfit - I was over fit. I had too much sparring and I am not going to make that mistake this time. John McDermott is a decent fighter but he's not in my league.

"It was just inexperience", continued Fury, "and if I was a more experienced pro I would know that you have to take it steady and spar a few rounds at a time and build up. I am young and always want to get stuck in."

Fury then went on to explain how he felt the fight went and how he felt the fight had helped him develop.

"If I had knocked out McDermott in a round I would have got as much stick as I am now. They would have said I caught him cold, when he wasn't ready. The ten rounds have done me more good than ten quick knockouts. I proved I can take a shot, have good determination, good heart and a good chin. The only thing I didn't show on the night is that I can box well. No matter what people think of the decision it was a good fight. It was an all action fight, non-stop for 10 rounds and was pretty much punch for punch," admitted Fury.

Fury's team have always made a point that the giant heavyweight struggled to get sparring in his home country, a fact that saw him sparring out in Germany for the McDermott fight.

Fury took it up: "I was sparring the likes of Francesco Pianeta, Oleg Platov, Edmund Gerber and Robert Helenius, all of whom are European prospects. I was doing eight or ten rounds every day and it took a lot out of me. I was also on a training camp with Sebastian Sylvester in preparation for his world title fight, we were doing 10km races and I was keeping up and actually won a few."

Fury has never been shy in telling the public and media of his ability and how far he can go at this early stage of his career. Fury discussed what was next for him if he managed to beat McDermott next year. "I don't know to be honest, I could win the British title tomorrow if I wanted to," boasted Fury.

"Danny Williams or any of the domestic lads would get beat by me. I always want to fight these guys and beat them; I don't want to have to wait three years. But I have had a sit down with my dad and the people around me and they have explained to me that when you win a British title you have to defend it and there are no more easy fights for you.

"Why not take as many easy fights as I can now because you can always go up in class but you can't go down in class. I have to learn my trade and just get stuck in get my head down and forget all the trash talking. I can't talk a good fight and box badly. I have to do it in the ring"

However, when pressed on his chances of stepping up to world level, Fury decided to pass comment on the recent David Haye fight. "There is nothing out there, did you see the Haye-Valuev fight, I have seen more action in my local chippy on a Saturday night," roared Fury.

"It was absolutely rubbish. I know he had a job to do to win but even when he had Valuev hurt he didn't try and finish him. David Haye must be the weakest ever heavyweight world champion. I don't think Haye could beat me, never mind a proper champion."

Fury then talked about how a fight between himself and the new WBA heavyweight champion would go. "I think I would give Haye the worst time of his life", chided Fury to BoxingScene, "if I got in the ring with him he wouldn't have his own way. I don't think Haye could hurt me, but I think I can hurt him. He would have to get past my jab and uppercuts, and if I caught him it would all be over as his chin is a bit dodgy.

"Haye is a small heavyweight. Yes he is quick, but I'm quick too, I can match him for speed and power, the only thing he can't match me with is a chin and that's the main thing in boxing. Haye also can't match me for heart, once David Haye gets stick he is looking for a back door out off it and when Haye is in the trenches he won't last. You have got to want to win.

"I saw vulnerabilities in the [Odlanier] Solis fight in the amateurs. Haye was beating him up, scored a first round knockdown but when Solis came back and showed he could take everything Haye could throw, Haye shit himself and if he did that once he will definitely do it again."