Tyson Fury to Face Nicolai Firtha on September 17
by Scott Christ on Sep 6, 2011 2:04 PM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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I was going to return to action with some post about, you know, other stuff, but let's just jump right into the news and get it going. Maybe tonight I'll do the other thing. Whatever it is.
Tyson Fury's opponent for September 17 in Belfast has been named, and it will be 32-year-old journeyman Nicolai Firtha, a fighter you might think off hand is Russian or something, but not really, he's just from Akron. Firtha (20-8-1, 8 KO) should be no problem for Fury, but the British champ himself isn't letting himself think that way, at least in the press release.
"There was a lot of talk about me fighting Martin Rogan and a few other names like Mike Perez and Leif Larsen were mentioned but I've accepted to fight Firtha who's a lot younger than Rogan and has mixed in a lot higher company than any of those other guys.
"With two weeks to go I know this is a risk, a gamble but I'm a true fighting man and a man of honour and I'm prepared to fight any man on the planet and I want the Irish fight fans to come out and see a real fight not some knock over job.
"Anybody who knows anything about boxing can see that this is a risky fight because Firtha has gone the distance with the man who now holds the WBA belt which David Haye once held. It's going to be a big test for me so soon after me beating Dereck Chisora but I know it's a challenge that I can rise to."
Fury (15-0, 10 KO) is right that Firtha has been in with better competition than Larsen, and even Perez, but that doesn't make him a tougher test than Perez would have been by any means. Firtha has been in with (and lost to) Alexander Povetkin, Manny Quezada, Tye Fields, Neven Pajkic, and Franklin Lawrence. He's also lost to lesser opponents in Lamar Stephens, James Northey, and Josue Blocus.
Promoter Mick Hennessy pulled the usual line about a European fighter facing a no-name American, saying, "Although the fight has been agreed with just over two weeks to go, the Firtha camp have known about the possibility of this fight for some time. We had been looking at the Rogan fight but when that fell through then we looked to make the Firtha fight. Tyson's profile in America is on the rise and a win against Firtha will only help that."
The Firtha fight is, in its way, acceptable. Fury is still learning and it's a fairly quick return to the ring after he last fought on July 23. But no, beating Nicolai Firtha, who has zero name value in the United States, will do nothing to raise Fury's profile here.
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I’d like to see Fury v David Price before the year is out. Or maybe Sam Sexton if that can’t be made.
by Skeletor1982 on Sep 6, 2011 3:44 PM EDT via iPhone app reply actions
Price is reportedly fighting John McDermott in a Britsh tile final eliminator on Nov 5th for a shot at Fury.
If Price wins that one the Fury fight should happen next year.
Will surely happen at some point
And that WOULD be a a HW fight to look forward too
by Sweet science on Sep 6, 2011 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks, I thought the Price v McDermott fight was sooner than that. Slightly worrying as that’ll guarantee Fury gets stuck into plenty of mince pies between the 2 fights!
by Skeletor1982 on Sep 6, 2011 5:45 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Without wanting to ruffle any feathers, I don’t think Price is all that good. I think his style will make him sort of competitive against Fury, but I think Fury is, for all his faults, a better fighter, and also has power.
Also has Power?
You don’t think Price has powe, check out his last two fights. Two clean knockouts. It’s his whiskers that most worry me
by Sweet science on Sep 6, 2011 7:25 PM EDT up reply actions
You’re spot-on about his chin, I saw a lot of his amateur fights and he was dropped, stopped or badly wobbled a fair bit.
He has tremendous power, average skills but nothing much else apart from height and reach. I think British/European title level is his limit, although you never know with the state of the heavyweight division.
As we’re on about heavyweights, Audrey Harrison has been confirmed as a participator in the new series of ’I’m a knob-head doing ballroom dancing’. I don’t watch it but I know how Harrison will dance, he’ll start off six yards away from his partner, then slowly and carefully move forwards before grabbing her for dear life.
After being voted out he’ll look into the cameras with his deluded brain full of magic and claim that he still thinks he can become a ballroom champion if ‘only people would get behind him’.
be a bit Ironic if he threw about 100 punches in his 90 second routine
“You picked the wrong performance to throw punches Audley”
Was nice to see you, to see you…. NICE, Boom, Audley with the big right hand to Brucie
by Sweet science on Sep 7, 2011 7:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Also have just noticed Boxrec have Fury ranked 10th. Seems very high to me, I’d guess he’s a back-end top-20 guy IMO
by Skeletor1982 on Sep 6, 2011 3:55 PM EDT via iPhone app reply actions
Boxrec’s ranking are pretty meaningless, imo. I only use that site to check fighter records.
They ranked Mikkel Kessler above Andre Ward for quite a long time after Ward beat Kessler easily, for (ridiculous) example.
The rankings on this site or the Ring rankings are usually much closer to reality, imo.
Boxrec
also have Nonito Donaire at no.27 in it’s P4P rankings, yet hilariously have Cornelius Bundrage at no. 19 and Alfredo Angulo at no. 18……….. :)
Yeah, some of that is ridiculous. Their complete disregard and disrespect for the lower weight classes is a huge problem, IMO. You look at their “points” system and Bundrage has 592, and then Roman Gonzalez has 225.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
I have him just outside the top ten right now.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
I do like Fury, but I also think he might be a little overrated. His best win is a very out of shape Chisora (obviously not Fury’s fault).
I think the Boxrec top 9 is pretty fair (In terms of fighters not the order), but there are a load of guys just outside (Arreola, Pulev, Solis, Chagaev, Peter) who IMO Fury would struggle with. Plus Mike Perez would’ve given him a real rough night if that had been made.
by Skeletor1982 on Sep 6, 2011 5:53 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Their rankings are very good at getting a general idea of where people stand outside the top 20
But next to useless for the top of any weight class.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
First, good you have you back Scott. Hope your vacation went well.
Second, Fury is a smart man in avoiding Leif Larsen, who is said to be "the strongest/fastest athlete ever". Very smart move.
It’s a crap fight, but it’s not entirely unexpected that Fury would want a soft touch victory lap after winning the fight with Chisora. As long as it leads to a better fight his next time out, I have no major problem with it.
by Verklemptomaniac on Sep 6, 2011 6:38 PM EDT reply actions
I’d like to see Fury put David Rodriguez out of his misery. Then Chauncey Welliver. Then Fres Oqundo. Then step up.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." - Mike Quarry
Yeah, someone needs to bust what little bubble David Rodriguez has. Oquendo is for basically done at this point I think. Pulled out of yet another fight.
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"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
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