AS a challenger, Germany is the last place you want to take a boxing match to the scorecards.
Our own Matthew Macklin can testify. When in his prime in 2011, he gave Felix Sturm a hell of a fight in Cologne, yet he missed out on the WBA Super World middleweight title owing to some seriously suspect scoring.
Despite being the much busier man that night, two of the three judges marked Macklin down as having lost eight of the 12 rounds, while the third awarded him a 115-113 victory. Martin Murray experienced a similar injustice in Sturm’s subsequent fight, although the Englishman at least salvaged a draw.
That split-decision loss hit Macklin harder than Sturm managed himself, and the Birmingham-born Irishman has lost three of his seven fights since – although two have been at the hands of middleweight superstars Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin.
In truth, though, he never truly recovered from his first defeat in five years in Cologne. Having suffered a surprise loss to Jorge Sebastian Heiland in Dublin late last year, it’s difficult to see ‘Mack the Knife’ mixing it with the division’s elite again.
And so when it was announced that Tyson Fury would challenge heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko in Germany – where the champion is based and has fought regularly throughout his career – the 26-year-old’s chances of beating the dominant Ukrainian weakened. Significantly, one might argue.
Tyson and his trainer, his uncle Peter Fury, now have until October 24 to come up with a plan to inflict a first defeat upon Klitschko in 11 years. Peter accepts that out-pointing the 39-year-old is simply not an option.
“We’re not going for points over in Germany, we’re definitely looking to stop him,” he told The Irish Post.
“It will be an exciting fight. Tyson is not going to sit back and let him jab him up and down with that big right hand, so it’s going to be very, very interesting.
“We’ve not looked at game-plans yet but I’ve got a rough idea in my mind how we’re going to go about it. Let’s put it this way – it’ll be a Tyson that you’ve not seen before.
“Wladimir is a very good fighter so it’s going to be a tough fight, whatever comes to the table, but it’s a fight we’re confident we can win.”
Peter Fury believes his nephew has a genuine chance against KlitschkoFury, whose father and grandmother hail from Galway and Tipperary respectively, has a big following in the UK and Ireland, but his team aren’t relying on mass support to provide him an extra edge on the night.
“It would be nice [to bring a big following],” said Peter, “but at the end of the day it’s a ring with two men in it and we don’t look at it as home advantage – that’s only for the judges, and we’ll have to see who we get for that.
“But as far as the fighters are concerned, it does not matter for Tyson at all. If he had to fight anywhere in the world, it would not matter.”
In an attempt to build up a greater global audience, Klitschko has taken his 22-fight winning-streak on the road, fighting in Russia and Madison Square Garden in New York in two of his last four outings.
According to Peter, the fact that his camp have decided to stage the Fury fight in his familiar surroundings in Germany suggests Klitschko is wary of the challenger’s threat.
He said: “They’re taking it seriously – this is the toughest fight of Wladimir’s career, no doubt. They know what’s ahead of them, they know it’s a very, very risky fight.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion for Tyson and it’s definitely not a forgone conclusion for him [Klitschko].
“It’s anybody’s fight this – a 50-50 fight – doesn’t matter what anybody says, I can genuinely tell you now that this is a 50-50 contest.”
For what he lacks in ability compared to Klitschko, Tyson does boast a number of advantages over his opponent.
He’s taller, has a greater reach and, more importantly in the eyes of his trainer, he’s 13 years younger than the WBA, IBF and WBO champion.
“Youth is always a telling factor – you don’t grow old in years for nothing – and that will be a telling factor in Wladimir, that’s for sure.
“He [Tyson] is not turning up as the opponent, he sees himself as the champion. As far as he can see, he’s going there to take them belts off Wladimir, without question.
“He’s had that mentality all the way through his career and even more so now as time has gone on.
“He’s really up for this fight, he really wants it more than anything – it’s what he’s always wanted and he’s supremely confident.”
He’ll need to maintain the same mentality up until fight night, because if Tyson Fury can’t find a way to shake up the world with a knockout of Wladimir Klitschko, he’ll almost certainly suffer his first professional defeat.
