Hughie Fury to fight on July 8

Hughie Fury to fight on July 8

Hughie Fury to fight on July 8

Hughie Fury to fight on July 8

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Google Plus

Unbeaten #1 WBO heavyweight contender Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs) will be taking a stay busy fight next month on July 8 against an opponent still to be determined at the Copper Box Arena in London, England.

This will be a 10 round affair for the 22-year-old Hughie, who recently suffered a back injury that caused him to miss out on a world title shot against World Boxing Organization champion Joseph Parker. The WBO didn’t demote the 6’6” Hughie in their rankings despite him having been out of action for the last 14 months.

It’s unclear at what point the WBO moves their contenders out of their top 15 rankings due to inactivity. You have to believe that Hughie is getting close to that point. If he stays out of the ring much longer it’s going to look odd with the WBO ranking. However, the WBO has Miguel Cotto rated No.1 at 154 despite the fact that he hasn’t fought since November 2015. So I guess it doesn’t really matter how long fighters are out of the ring. The WBO will still rank then highly. It looks very, very weird to me.

Hughie’s last fight came against journeyman Fred Kassi on April 30, 2016. Fury ran out of gas after 6 rounds. Somehow Hughie banged heads with Kassi in the 7th causing a big cut to open up over his left eye from the accidental head clash. The injury was a lucky break for Hughie, as he had gassed out and was taking bad punishment. It looked to me like Hughie was going to be knocked out by Kassi. The head-butt probably saved Hughie’s backside. I think it was nothing short of a miracle for Hughie to have that head-butt save him. Without the head-butt, Hughie gets knocked out in my opinion. It’s interesting that Hughie hasn’t fought since them.

“I can’t wait to get back under the lights and do what I do best,” said Fury. “I was disappointed to miss out my shot against Parker but this is boxing and injuries happen all of the time. I will get my shot at the WBO Heavyweight belt later this year and follow in the footsteps of Tyson.”

It would be good to see Hughie fight a talented contender for a change. Hughie has been taking it really easy during his career in terms of opposition. We still don’t know how good Hughie is because he’s been fed a lot of C-level heavyweights. I’d like to see how well Hughie does against someone like Luis Ortiz, Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz, Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce, Dillian Whyte, Dominic Breazeale, Tony Noka or Kubrat Pulev. If Hughie can beat those guys, then he definitely deserves to be fighting for a world title against Parker. I don’t rate Hughie as having the record to be fighting for a world title. In fact, I don’t consider Hughie a top 15 contender due to his weak resume. Don’t get me wrong. Hughie is a good prospect, but he doesn’t have the wins under his belt for him to be rated No.1 by the WBO. I don’t think Hughies win over journeyman Fred Kassi was an important enough victory for him to be ranked No.1 by the WBO.

Hughie needs to get healthy and STAY healthy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a fighter as young as Hughie with so many health problems. At 22, you’re supposed to be nearly invincible in terms of your health, right? What in the heck is going on with Hughie? I’m trying to imagine what Hughie’s boxing career will be like in 10 years from now when he’s 32. All I can think of is Hughie sitting outside of the ring for years at a time with some ailment sidelining him, I hope by that time Tyson Fury will be back. It would be bad if Tyson is still out of the ring as well.

Hughie’s back injury was probably a good thing for him. I don’t think Hughie was ready to fight someone like Parker, given his 1-year layoff. To be sure, Parker is a vulnerable heavy, but Hughie’s long layoff and his inexperience against quality opposition would have made it awfully tough for him to beat Parker. The fight was going to take place in New Zealand. That would have put Hughie in a tough position where he might have needed a knockout to get the victory. I don’t think the judges would have given Hughie a victory with him as the visiting fighter unless he did something extraordinary like knocking Parker down two or three times in the fight.

”We are treating this fight as a warm-up to the big one later this year,” said Hughie’s trainer/father Peter Fury. ”The division is certainly opening up with plenty of opportunities and we are confident that Hughie is going to figure dominantly for years to come.”

It’s not surprising that Hughie is taking a tune-up fight due to the 14 months he’s been out of the ring. But as far as calling it a tune-up, it’s basically more of the same from Hughie. For all intents and purposes, Hughie has been fighting tune-ups since he turned pro in 2013. Look at Hughie’s last 5 opponents and you tell me where he’s not taking tune-ups:

– Fred Kassi

– Dominick Guinn

– Larry Olubamiwo

– Emilio Ezequiel Zarate

– George Arias

Some boxing fans believe that the only reason Hughie is rated No.1 by the WBO is he’s related to the highly popular former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. I don’t know if that’s the case or no. What I do know though is Hughie is going to have MAJOR problems when he does eventually challenge for a heavyweight title against Joseph Parker if he hasn’t improved tenfold since his fight with Kassi.

The Hughie that fought Kassi would be blasted out of the ring by the 6’4” Parker. If Hughie is just being ranked high due to him being related to Fury, then he’s going to be lost when he gets inside the ring with Parker. You’ve got to have the talent to compete. I don’t see Hughie as being good enough to beat Parker. But that’s why I think it would have been better for the boxing public if the WBO had waited for Hughie to prove himself worthy of a title shot by beating someone good before he was given a No.1 ranking by the WBO.

I don’t see how the WBO has Hughie ranked above Dillian Whyte, Dominic Breazeale, Andy Ruiz Jr. and Kubrat Pulev. Those are guys that I believe are considerably better than Hughie Fury. I’d like to see Hughie prove me wrong by him beating Parker when/if he ever stays healthy long enough to challenge him for his WBO title, but I don’t see Hughie being good enough to beat him. I’d just be happy to see Hughie make it into the ring with Parker without him being sidelined with an injury or some other physical problem that keeps him from taking the fight.