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By Johnny Walker
As British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Tyson Fury prepares for his next fight, with Canadian champion Neven Pajkic this Saturday in Manchester, UK, he is not what you would call lacking in confidence. Fury and Pajkic have both promised to retire from boxing should they lose, with Fury promising to quit if Pajkic even makes a decent fight of it!
“Pakic is gonna get smashed. He’s not got a chance in history. He’s got more chance of winning the lottery than he does of beating Tyson Fury,” the talkative heavyweight told Boxing Insider when we spoke recently.
Fury obviously regards Pajkic so lightly that he can’t help but look beyond Saturday’s fight to the future, where he sees himself at the top of boxing’s heavyweight heap. At times, Fury, only 23, sounds impatient that he isn’t there already, and anxious to prove to the world that he can back up what he calls his extreme confidence in his own abilities.
With the topic of Neven Pajkic already covered in Part One of the our interview, read on to discover what Tyson Fury thinks of other boxing topics of the day, including the Klitschko brothers, Robert Helenius, Alexander Povetkin and the future of the heavyweight division.
TYSON FURY SPEAKS:
…ON FIGHTING THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION KLITSCHKO BROTHERS
“The thing is with the Klitschkos, yeah, it’s all their way or no way. They want to give me peanuts to fight, them, yeah, they want it in Germany, they want options on me. They want everything — they want it all their own way. So why would I do that?
“It’s just senseless, isn’t it? To fight for the world heavyweight title, you want to be financially secure, plus, you want things to be at least half level on the playing field. You don’t the playing field to be like a 90 to 10 percent their way.
“The thing about the Klitschkos is, they know they’ve got the power to negotiate everything their own way because they’re the heavyweight champions and I’m a challenger, yeah?
“Let me tell you this whole thing, I’d fight the Klitschkos at the drop of a hat. No problem. The guys are 40 and 37 [actually Wladimir is 35], I’m 23, and I’m a hungry lion, these guys can’t live with me, because I’m too fresh. And I’m bigger than them and taller, and am as aggressive as them. So when it comes down to fighting, that’s not a problem, that’s the easy part. Boxing, fighting in the ring on the night is the easy part. The hard part is getting it sorted, and prepared, for all the fights. And when it comes to fighting, there is no one who can outfight me. It’s just one of them things. I’d fight them in the morning. But, at the minute, it doesn’t make any financial sense, because they’re offering peanuts! So if they want to offer peanuts, they’re going to get the monkeys.”
…ON THE WLAD KLITSCHKO – JEAN MARC MORMECK FIGHT
“Again, it’s just a crazy fight. We offered a fight to Mormeck last year when I had about 12 fights, and he said no chance, he wouldn’t even entertain the fight. Come on, there’s got to be better challengers out there than Mormeck. I read today [the Klitschko camp] wanted to try Arreola, but it’s just like a big conveyor belt, isn’t it? Why don’t they bring back somebody out of retirement to fight him, Tony TNT Tucker or something? I’m sure they can build him up a bit!”
…ON ANOTHER RISING HEAVYWEIGHT, ROBERT HELENIUS
“Another stiff European, stiff as a straw. The guy’s got no movement, yeah? He’s slow. Ok, he can punch, but you tell me somebody 6’7″, 260 pounds that can’t. It’s just common sense. I’ve got proof — I’ve sparred Helenius twice over in Germany and smashed him to pieces. I’ve beat Helenius up in sparring on numerous occasions. Robert Helenius to me, is just a big stiff European, yeah? Like Dimitrenko, like Alexander Ustinov, just like the Klitschkos only a worse version. And that’s about it really.
“To be a good heavyweight, yeah, you’ve got to have more than just be big and strong. The Europeans at the moment, they do a lot of weightlifting, and they’re super strong, but there’s no boxing involved. It’s just, ‘I will win, and I want to be strong and throw a 1-2, a hook and a jab.’ And people are not interested in that. Maybe in Europe they’re interested in a jab and a 1-2, but I like to see some proper shots going over, under, through the middle, body punches. And what it is with me, different from the current heavyweights, is I throw body punches with venom, they do damage. Heavyweights nowadays they’re all headhunters aren’t they, they just go for the head, go for the head. So I would say Helenius, he’s a strong fighter, but when it comes to fighting me … then it would be a win easy for me.”
…ON HIS “FEUD” WITH WBA “REGULAR” HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, ALEXANDER POVETKIN
“I’d rather be punching myself in the face than be 32 years old and avoiding every fighter out there who’s got a pulse, really. Povetkin, yeah, he could have fought Wladimir Klitschko 20 times and they just won’t entertain a fight with any of these guys … he’s taking on Cedric Boswell who’s 42 years old. It’s just crazy, really. I’m ready to fight, 23 years old, I’ll be 17-0 with 12 knockouts in a minute, and I’ve got a top 12 ranking by the WBC, so it makes sense [for Povetkin] to fight me.”
…ON YOUNG AMERICAN HEAVYWEIGHTS
“The thing is, without the Klitschkos, yeah, there’s nobody out there to fight, there’s no power coming through. In America they got this kid called called Seth Mitchell, and the Olympian, Deontay Wilder. In order to improve, to get better, to get world class, you have to fight world class fighters.
“Deontay Wilder, he might be an Olympic bronze medallist, yeah, he might be 6’6″ or 6’7″, but he’s fighting country boys. I could have 50 wins out of 50 by knocking over bums, quite easily. They’re not fighting anybody–at all.”
…ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION
“This era is ready for the taking and Tyson Fury’s going to dominate, yeah. This is my era, and I believe that every 30 or 40 years a superstar comes along and rules for a while, and I’m going to be that superstar.
“I believe in myself to the highest peak of the mountains, I believe I can beat anybody on the earth, no problem. People can say what they want about Tyson Fury, but at the end of the day, I come to fight, I’ll fight anybody in the world out there, who’s ready to fight. I’ve never ducked a fight in me life and I’m taking on all challengers. I’ve has 16 fights now and I’ve fought better class people than many out there who’s had 30 bouts. Don’t worry about it, I’m coming, the world needs to hold on a just a few more moments, because I have been unleashed, and I’m off the lead now officially.”
