Tyson Fury: If I’m half the man I was, I’ll beat Pianeta

Tyson Fury returns to action on Saturday in what is a bigger fight for him than it might normally be on paper. The 30-year-old former champion will travel to Belfast for a heavyweight clash with Francesco Pianeta, but what’s really at stake is a potential date in November with WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

Fury (26-0, 19 KO) says he’s feeling good and fit:

“I’m feeling healthy as a trout, fit as a flea. I’m very happy, everything is going smoothly, injury-free, training is going well. Just the same routine day in, day out for the last 10 weeks. I’ve had two or three days off since my last fight, I got straight back in the gym.”

Fury is also confident that he’ll get the job done against the journeyman:

”I’ve eaten, slept and drunk boxing -- I’ve done nothing else but box since November. So if I can’t beat Pianeta I might as well get on my knees and kiss his two feet because I’m clearly shot to pieces. But if I’m half the man I was a few years ago, I will write Pianeta off like a good’un, put a face on him like the Elephant Man.”

Fury is likely right — even if he’s not at his 100 percent best, the man who beat Wladimir Klitschko over 12 rounds, he should be able to handle Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KO), who lost his last fight to prospect Petar Milas and was stopped by American veteran Kevin Johnson last year.

Whether that means Fury will be ready for Wilder in a few months, however, is another story.