Tyson Fury Talks Southpaw Switch, Klitschko Brothers

In an interview with Corey Erdman at RingTV.com, newly-crowned Irish heavyweight champion and former British and Commonwealth champion Tyson Fury says he'll be ready for the Klitschko brothers soon, but then this is a road we've been down before.

Fury (18-0, 13 KO) defeated Martin Rogan via fifth-round TKO on Saturday in Belfast, in a fight that had plenty of controversy and anger outside of the ring, but just the usual entertaining Fury battle inside of it. Well, maybe not the exact usual, as Fury's southpaw switch-up was news to everyone watching, including the analysts at ringside.

Fury explains the move to a lefty stance:

"I've been getting caught a lot in the past, leaning in with the jab and dropping it. ... So I thought to myself, for a change, I'm going to go around southpaw, keep my left hand up and I can't get hit with an overhand right, because I'm (moving) away from his right."

Fury, 23, seemed to get more comfortable with the change as the fight progressed, as he was very tentative in the early going and gave away a couple of rounds simply by not being very active, while Rogan was his usual self and willing to recklessly throw with both hands.

Once he started landing clean blows, Fury took over. But it's worth wondering if going southpaw this late in the game is a good gamble. Fury's young, of course, and has plenty of time, but expectations increasing and the boasts of promoter Mick Hennessy -- plus Fury himself seesawing on how soon he can face the Klitschkos -- aren't going to help. There are truly only so many fights at the Nicolai Firtha/Neven Pajkic/Martin Rogan level that the public are going to keep accepting.

Eventually if you don't actually step him up against better opponents, you look like carnies and con men, which might still get enough people into the building for everyone to be happy from the famed "This is a business" sense, but it's not doing much for his boxing, and failure to continue developing into a better fighter could bite him hard when he does step up.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: The way they're promoting him is nice because it gets Hennessy's lone marketable fighter on Channel 5, and that's wonderful, and I get it, but from a pure fighting standpoint, Fury's being done no favors. That's just one man's opinion, but if they eventually jump him three or four levels against someone really good, it's going to be an eye-opener for Fury. The ability to not get caught by Martin Rogan does not account for the ability to not get caught by even someone like Alexander Povetkin, let alone Wladimir or Vitail.