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By Johnny Walker
Having already gotten Canadian heavyweight champ Neven Pajkic’s side of the “feud” between he and British and Commonwealth heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, Boxing Insider wanted to get Fury’s side of the story as their clash in Manchester on November 12 grows near.
Before talking to Fury, Boxing Insider was in contact with Pajkic, who vowed to quit the ring altogether should he lose “fair and square” to the British champ. Pajkic also wanted to challenge Fury to do the same—quit the ring– should he lose. That challenge, and the entire subject of Neven Pajkic in general, got Fury, who is never at a loss for words, really stoked.
“Let me tell you about Neven Pajkic. The only thing that stands out about Neven Pajkic when he’s in the ring with you, is his ugly face!” Fury, 23, told Boxing Insider.
“He’s terrible, he’s the worst fighter in the heavyweight division, including journeymen and everything. He’s got no skills, no talent, he’s a bum. And I’m going to literally do a demolition job on him. I hate the guy. He talks about me family, he talks about me dad, I’m going in there to smash his face in completely, going in there to take his head off his shoulders. I’m going to do serious damage to this kid,” Fury fumed.
Fury scoffs at the notion that Pajkic, 34, who sports a record identical to his at 16-0-0, has any weapons to trouble him with.
“He’s got an aggressive style, yeah, but he’s got no power,” says the 6’9” tall Irish traveller.
He’s got 5 knockouts out of 16 fights and he’s fought nobody. And I just think he’s going to try to back me up, but how’s he going to do that when he hasn’t got the firepower to hurt me, and when he comes in range I’m gonna hurt him. So it’s just crazy, he’s trying to fight fire with a matchstick,” jokes Fury.
“He’s not even got a puncher’s chance” [laughs].
“The guy doesn’t have any defense,” Fury continues. “If you watch his fights, he just walks forward, he’s square on, his feet are all over the show, and he throws punches. He might be a bit awkward, I’ll give him that, because he’s amateurish, he’s got no experience.
“This is a slaughter, this is a lamb to the slaughter. I’m a world class fighter, yeah. And this guy is just … trust me when I say, this is a mismatch. On paper it looks OK because he’s 16-0, but in reality the guy can’t fight.”
Not content to stop at questioning Pajkic’s boxing ability, Fury also goes so far as to question Pajkic as the Canadian heavyweight champion.
“To be honest with you, he’s not a real Canadian,” says Fury (Pajkic is Serbian by descent). “He’s been a Canadian for about 5 years. Let me tell you, Canada needs a proper heavyweight, not some pretender who thinks he’s a killer, but he’s really not. Numerous fights like, Jason Gavern, Nicolai Firtha … he was lucky to get a decision against Johnnie White, and also Raphael Butler. Anyone who he’s fought against, really, he’s been in deep water.”
When I mentioned Pajkic’s vow to retire if Fury beats him “fair and square and not like McDermott or Firtha,” and his challenge that Fury do the same, the British and Commonwealth champ was at first bemused, and then warmed to the idea.
“Firtha was about to get carried out of the ring, he was wobbled about 10 times in that fight, and I was pissed at the referee for stopping it when he did. That could have been one of me highlight knockouts. I done all the work for the five rounds, yeah … so I was pissed as well,” said Fury of the notion that Nicolai Firtha (who was also beaten by Pajkic) was the victim of an early stoppage by the referee when he lost to Fury in September.
“So tell Neven the answer to that question is, if he beats me, I’ll change my name from Tyson Fury to, ‘I Can’t Fight, John.’ That’s if he beats me, yeah? I’ll never fight again. If Pajkic even gives me a good fight, I’ll retire, how’s that? If he even gives me a tidy fight, I’ll retire, because I’m going nowhere. If a guy like Pajkic can even come close to me, that’s a promise. If he gives me any sort of a fight at all, I’ll retire. And I’ll swear to God in Jesus’s name, yeah, if he gives me a good fight, I’ll retire, because I must be useless if I can’t knock him out. “
“I’m a religious man and I don’t tell lies. If he gives me a good fight, I’ll retire, because I’m going nowhere. Klitschko would destroy me in a round if [Pajkic] could give me a good fight.”
Finally on the subject of his partner in this Irish-British / Serbian-Canadian feud, Fury emphasized that his total disdain for Neven Pajkic doesn’t extend to other boxers.
“I don’t dislike any fighters apart from Neven Pajkic, yeah. When I speak with confidence, I don’t mean to disrespect other fighters.
“At the end of the day this is a sport, a boxing match, and at the end of the day, I hope the best man wins.
“If Neven is good enough to come over and beat me, then good luck to him and I hope he gets a world title shot and wins millions of pounds and whatever.
‘At the end of the day it’s just a boxing fight for me, but with Neven Pajkic it’s personal, because he’s been calling me bad names and me family and all that, so I have to take it out seriously on him.
“I don’t mean to upset people, but I have to let people know how confident I am in my own ability.”
(Tune in tomorrow for Part Two with Tyson Fury, including his thoughts on The Klitschko Brothers and Robert Helenius)
