ALLEN BROS., KHAN & FURY
Hey Dougie,
What’s the latest on Rock and Tiger Allen? I haven’t been able to find any online update on their condition since news of them being critical way back in early June.
With regards to Amir Khan, he’s done brilliantly under Roach and is a tremendous athlete with discipline, conditioning, stamina, heart and speed, but I don’t think he has anywhere near the boxing intelligence as a Mayweather. Khan has done well to follow out Roach’s gameplans but I’m not sure how he’ll fare when he’s forced to adapt in the ring or chance tactics beyond a plan A. Apart from one round in the Maidana fight where he somehow managed to survive, we haven’t really seen Khan having to do much out of his comfort zone. For me his chin still has a big question mark (his conditioning and heart got him through the Maidana crisis) but his much improved footwork makes him a more elusive target than before.
Anyway, Tyson Fury appeared on terrestrial TV in the UK last weekend and the viewing audience peaked at over 2 million. This is fantastic for British boxing and hopefully the likes of Channel 5 with stick with boxing this time. Fury is an entertaining character in and out of the ring and although he’s done well to achieve what he has at such a young age, the heavyweight division is hardly brimming with talent and I think David Price and Irish based Mike Perez (if he knuckles down properly in the gym – he is rumoured to be lazy) remain the better prospects. Cheers. — Paul, London
I agree that Price (a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist) and Perez (a 2004 world junior amateur champ) are more talented/technically sound prospects than Fury, but the 23-year-old Manchester native might be the most marketable big man in the UK. He?s got charisma and a little bit of talent to go with his modern heavyweight size.
I was mildly impressed with Tyson?s decision victory over Chisora, who I thought would beat him. I wasn?t that high on Chisora going into the bout, but based on the sloppy form and poor stamina Tyson showed in his U.S. TV debut (on ShoBox, vs. Rich Power last September), I thought he was 6 feet and nine inches of pure dog s__t. However, he’s clearly a better fighter than he looked that night. I thought he was poised and effective against Chisora.
I?m not going to get overexcited about the victory, though. That was the worst version of Chisora I?ve seen and he?s was still able to land wild overhand bombs on Fury (particularly in the second round). It makes me wonder what would have happened if Chisora had come in at a fit weight and actually set his overhand power shots up with straight punches (a jab or right) to the belly of the big man.
