Tag Archives: schwarz

Posted on 06/16/2019

By: Sean Crose

Tyson Fury put his 27-0-1 record on the line Saturday night when he faced off against the unheralded 24-0 Tom Schwarz of Germany. Many had expected Fury to engage in a rematch with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder after their controversial draw last December. Fury opted to sign with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions, however, and so ended up fighting Schwarz rather than Wilder. ESPN made much of Fury’s claim to the lineal heavyweight championship, perhaps because the Englishman had no major belts to enter the ring with. He did have an exact knockoff of Apollo Creed’s Uncle Sam outfit however, which he strutted into the ring with at the MGM Grand, accompanied by James Brown’s “Living in America.”

Fury controlled the movement and tempo of the first.

Fury came out in the southpaw stance and began landing effectively in the second. Schwarz started bleeding while Fury began showboating. So dominant was Fury in the second that the fighter began mimicking Ali avoiding punches. Seconds later, Schwarz was on the mat. The brave German slugger got up, but wasn’t able make it to the end of the round. Referee Kenny Bayless wisely stopped the bout before the bell ended the round. It was a total wipeout, though not an entirely unexpected one.

The post fight interview was gracious at first, then went the Tyson Fury route. After thanking Christ, Fury acknowledged the American audience. “Thank you America,” he said. “and God bless you all.” Admitting that he wanted to enjoy himself in the ring, Fury claimed that he wanted Deontay Wilder next year after fighting again in 2019. And then the fighter was asked to entertain the audience. Without missing a beat, Fury belted out an Aerosmith song, much as he did after shocking Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.

It was an easy night’s work over a man he was clearly expected to beat. Still, with Andy Ruiz having recently stunned Anthony Joshua, there had been an air around the fight world that anything could happen. Yet Schwarz had neither the skill nor the experience of Ruiz, which essentially meant he didn’t have the chance at an upset that Ruiz had.

Earlier in the evening, veteran light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera dropped a UD decision to Jesse Hart. It was an ugly, grueling fight, one which made it clear that Barerra’s days at the top echelon in the division might be winding down, for the man took a considerable amount of shots to the head.

Posted on 06/13/2019

By: William Holmes

On Saturday night Top Rank Promotions in association with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions will bring the lineal world heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, to Las Vegas to meet undefeated challenger Tom Schwarz.

Fury will be competing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and this card will be streamed live on ESPN+.

The co-main event of the evening will be between Jesse “Hard Work” Hart and Sullivan Barrera in the light heavyweight division.

The undercard will be shown on ESPN+ and will feature boxers such as Mikaela Mayer, Lizbeth Crespo, Andy Vences, Isaac Lowe, and Guido Vianello.

The following is a preview of the co-main event and main event of the evening.

Jesse Hart (25-2) vs. Sullivan Barrera (22-2); Light Heavyweight Division

This will be Jesse Hart’s first fight in the light heavyweight division after spending his career in the super middleweight division. He’ll have a tough fight in front of him as Sullivan Barrera has spent most of his career fighting in the light heavyweight division.

Hart is eight years younger than Barrera, who is currently thirty seven years old. Hart will also have a one inch height advantage and a four and a half inch reach advantage.

Both boxers have been fairly active the past two years. Hart fought four times in 2018 and twice in 2017, while Barrera fought twice in 2018 and three times in 2017.

Hart appears to have an edge in power, as he has stopped twenty one of his opponents while Barrera has stopped fourteen.

Both boxers had successful amateur careers. Hart was an Olympic alternate and a National Golden Gloves Champion. Barrera was a World Junior Championship Gold Medalist.

Hart’s two losses were close ones to Gilberto Ramirez. His wins have come against the likes of Mike Gavronski, Demon Nicholson, Alan Campa, Andrew Hernandez, and Mike Jiminez.

Barrera has defeated the likes of Sean Monaghan, Felix Valera, Joe Smith Jr., Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, Karo Murat, and Jeff Lacy. His losses were to Andre Ward and Dmitry Bivol.

With Barrera pushing 40, it’s hard to imagine him being in the same kind of physical condition he was in when he beat Karo Murat and Jeff Lacy. However, he does have the better professional resume and has been in the ring with better boxers than Jesse Hart.

This fight will likely be a close one, but this writer has to give a slight edge to Hart based on age.

Tyson Fury (27-0-1) vs. Tom Schwarz (24-0); Heavyweight Division

Tyson Fury is one of the heavyweight divisions biggest attractions, and with the recent loss by Anthony Joshua it appears a rematch with Deontay Wilder should happen in the future.

However, Fury first has to get past the undefeated and largely not well known Tom Schwarz.

Fury is thirty years old and still in his athletic prime. Schwarz is twenty five years old, but still relatively untested.

Fury appears to have more power than Schwarz as he has stopped nineteen of his opponents while Schwarz has stopped sixteen. Fury will have a three and a half inch height advantage.

Fury fought three times in 2018, but did not fight at all in 2017 or in 2016. Schwarz fought once in 2019, four times in 2018, and twice in 2017.

Fury has an edge in amateur experience as he had success on the European Circuit. Schwarz does not have the amateur pedigree of Tyson Fury.

Fury looks like he is in great shape and has remained in the gym since his draw with Deontay Wilder. He has beaten the likes of Francesco Pianeta, Sefer Seferi, Wladimir Klitschko, Dereck Chisora, Steve Cunningham, Kevin Johnson, and Vinny Maddalone.

Schwarz does not have the professional resume of Tyson Fury. He has beaten the likes of Kristijan Krstacic, Julian Fernandez, Senad Gashi, Samir Nebo, and Adnan Redzovic. None of these fighters are considered top level contenders.

This should be an easy fight for Fury to bounce back from after his draw with Wilder, and it’s hard to imagine Schwarz derailing Fury in Schwarz’s first fight in the United States.

All signs point to Tyson Fury winning the fight comfortably and by a wide margin.

Posted on 05/24/2019

By: Shane Willoughby

Everyone is desperately waiting to see Tyson Fury defend his self-proclaimed lineal championship against the fierce, 57 ranked contender Tom Schwarz.

Whilst the result of the fight is clear, one thing that isn’t so conclusive is what’s next for The Gypsy King?

After Fury walks his way to an easy points decision – winning every round. Who’s next to try and dethrone him of his never present, elusive and infamous title?

It is highly unlikely we see Fury vs Joshua this year with AJ most likely having to fight his WBO mandatory. And with Bob Arum saying he doesn’t want to make Fury vs Wilder until 2020, the former heavyweight champion might be running out of significant fights.

After Schwarz, Fury might have run out of meaningful opponents. With that said, he could always bring back Bermaine Sterverne or Chris Arreola as the fans won’t mind paying for those fights.

Saying that both Stervene and Arreola are ranked in the top 40 so that might be too big of a jump for the self-proclaimed lineal champion.

All jokes aside there is one opponent who is more than credible and possibly gives Fury some limelight.

Dillian Whyte vs Tyson Fury is possible for the end of 2019 as both fighters are in dire need of big fights and mainstream attention.

Whilst the body-snatcher has a credible opponent of his own in Oscar Rivas who he faces in July, its not quite the opponent that will propel him to the levels he needs to reach.

The fight between Whyte and Fury didn’t seem likely when WBC chairman Mauricio Sauliman first mentioned it; with both men appearing to turn it down for their own respected reasons.

Since then both British fighters have come out and expressed their want for the bout.

When you factor in the idea that they are both looking for decent opponents, the decision to make that fight is a no brainer. Not to mention the fact that this will be a massive fight in the UK.

However, it’s not like Fury is getting crumbs to fight these bums anyway.

Earlier this year Dillian Whyte looked to be heading to ESPN, following his countrymen Fury. With Whyte still a free agent this fight doesn’t appear to be a hard one to make as the ever-present promotion politics is absent.

Both the Gypsy King and the body snatcher must deal with their respected opponents first, but the fight between the two is more than possible. Especially, if the WBC order it as a final eliminator.

And Fury doesn’t have a track record for pulling out of fights, he has only done it to Alexander Ustinov, Vladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder.

Posted on 05/16/2019

By: Oliver McManus

The European Boxing Notebook has been brought out of retirement and is firmly back on the Boxing Insider schedule. Frank Warren has been a busy, busy man so let’s get straight into it and dissect the plethora of information coming out of Queensbury Promotions over the last fortnight.

Fury-Schwarz on PPV
Tyson Fury’s co-promotional debut with Top Rank takes place on June 15th with the ‘lineal’ champion facing Tom Schwarz: an unbeaten German who is ranked with the WBO. Taking place at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, this was professed to be a “tune up… exposure” fight to endear the ‘Gypsy King’ to his newfound American market. Given the stated nature of this contest, you’d be forgiven for assuming it would be available via a regular subscription. No such luck, evidently, with Frank Warren and BT Sport taking the decision to air it on their pay-per-view platform, BT Sport Box Office.

Tom Schwarz isn’t exactly an ideal opponent to warrant ‘pay-per-view’ and, actually, the American broadcasters share that opinion with the fight being streamed on their digital platform only – ESPN+.

Joe Joyce, Brad Foster and Louie Lynn pen deals with Queensbury
A trio of signings announced for Frank Warren who has been ‘making moves’ since the turn of the month by shrewdly capturing the signature of three exciting talents.

Joyce is the obvious headline grabber and what he lacks for in overt charisma he makes up for, and then some, in natural boxing talent. There’s nothing particularly unlikable about the 33 year old but Queensbury will need to market him correctly in order to maximize his commercial and sporting ability. The understated heavyweight has made an immediate impact as a professional, featuring Stateside, but it’s nice to see him back on home soil as he reaches the boiling point of his career. Given his age he can’t afford to allow the politics of boxing to keep him stagnant and ,whilst he awaits decisions from Agit Kabayel and Manuel Charr, he’ll be keeping busy on May 18th against Alexander Ustinov and, again, on July 13th against an opponent to be confirmed.

Brad Foster, meanwhile, is yet another British champion snapped up by Warren with the domestic super bantamweight kingpin set to be a star of the future. He captured the British title with a comprehensive out-pointing of Josh Wale in a contest that proved his class. Snapped up by Warren, less than a month later, he’s immediately involved in another test of his quality when he faces Ashley Lane, Commonwealth champion, on May 18th.

Louie Lynn, on the other hand, looked for a while as though he would sign with Matchroom – certainly he was keeping busy on their cards – but ultimately has inked a three year contract with Queensbury. The undefeated (4-0) featherweight has seen his quarter of wins come within the distance – all against notably durable fighters – and Warren is the best in the business at developing a young prospect. Good move!

Dubois-Gorman confirmed
The fight we were starting to think had drifted into the distant future has, like a bolt from the blue, been resurrected and will take place on July 13th. Arguably the two most explosive prospects in British boxing, the heavyweights square off with the vacant British title at stake. The contest was mandated last year for Dubois’ English title but, now Hughie Fury has stepped aside, has received a significant upgrade and the winner will see their name alongside Anthony Joshua and Lennox Lewis as Lord Lonsdale belt holders – no pressure, then.

At the time of writing Dubois was a reasonable betting favourite with odds of 4/11 available – Gorman viewed as a reasonable outsider at 2/1 – but those prices are shifting on a daily basis and are a good sign of how hard it is to predict a winner with certainty.

June 15th update
Two cracking domestic contests have been added to the undercard of Josh Warrington vs Kid Galahad – on June 15th – on a night that really doesn’t need hype to sell it. JJ Metcalf return was the first to be announced, having recovered from injury to record an eighth round knockout over Santos Medrano, in April. He’s immediately back in title contention, having been set to face Liam Williams, on December 22nd, with a fight against Jason Welborn for the vacant Commonwealth super welterweight title.

His first fight on a Warren show since last June is an instant opportunity to return to the spotlight and, against a world title challenger, he’ll be acutely aware of potential follow-up opportunities.

Welborn will be looking to, once more, upset the odds: having done so against Tommy Langford on two occasions last year. Doing the media rounds prior to this contest he has said he’s convinced he belongs back at world title level and Metcalf, formerly ranked by the WBC, is a good place to get back on that ladder.

Zelfa Barrett vs Lyon Woodstock Jr is another exciting clash between emerging contenders with the Commonwealth belt attached. Over the last 12-18 months we have seen Warren unafraid to pit his fighters against each other but, more than that, show a commitment to developing the careers of both men afterwards – Zak Chelli vs Umar Sadiq was how it all started. Woodstock, himself, was involved in one of those “crunch tests” against Archie Sharp last October and what a barnstormer that was.

Barrett is no stranger to ‘getting involved’ having also been on the wrong end of a bittersweet, fight-of-the-year worthy, defeat – against Ronnie Clark in February 2018. Both fighters have recorded wins since with Barrett twice out-doing Edwin Tellez and Woodstock seeing off Sergio Gonzalez earlier in the year. If this is anything like either of their previous ‘domestic tussles’ then we are in for an absolute cracker.

Posted on 05/16/2019

By: Shane Willoughby

Oh Frank Warren, you’ve only gone and done it! After his constant claims that Eddie Hearn is ‘robbing’ the fans, Frank Warren has only gone and put Tyson Fury (27-0-1) vs Tom Schwarz (24-0) on pay-per-view on BT Sports.

Fury is set to defend his lineal championship on the 19th June, in Las Vagas. The Gypsy King’s return to the States was expected, especially after his new American T.V deal with ESPN.

However, what was surprising was when it was announced that he was going to take on Tom Schwarz. WHO?!

In the eyes of many Fury should be the WBC champion after arguably beating Deontay Wilder last December.

The self-proclaimed lineal champion looked to be ready for the top fighters in the division; done with the likes of Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta. Unfortunately not!

Tyson Fury will be facing German heavyweight Tom Schwartz. If that wasn’t a hard-enough pill to swallow for the English fans, not only do you have to wake up at 5am to watch the fight, but you also have to pay.

Mr Warren what have you done? It was only last year the Hall of Fame promoter stated, ‘I wouldn’t pay 99p for Whyte vs Parker’; which turned out to be one of the best fight cards of the year. Now he has put Fury vs Schwarz as PPV on BT Sports.

If Whyte vs Parker wasn’t worth 99p, Frank Warren, you must be selling this fight for at least 50 pence.

Interestingly, no fights have been yet added to the undercard. Warren might have to make Eubank Sr vs Nigel Benn III to have this card qualify as a PPV.

It’s difficult to see how Fury vs Schwarz keeps people awake in the first place, not to mention the fight being in the early hours of the morning, and when you add the barrier of PPV, it’s hard to see how this PPV will sell.

Posted on 03/25/2019

By: Sean Crose

Widely circulated rumors were confirmed on Saturday night when Top Rank Promotions announced that Tyson Fury, the undefeated heavyweight who many feel is still lineal champion of the world, would be facing the widely unknown Tom Schwarz on June 15th , reportedly at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be Fury’s first bout since signing a highly publicized and surprising contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank promotional outlet several weeks ago. Fury was widely expected to rematch WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder after their entertaining and controversial battle last December, which had ended in a draw. The Englishman decided, however, to team up with Arum and ESPN instead.

The 24-0 Schwarz is essentially an unknown commodity. He has never fought in America, and has only fought outside of his native Germany on a few occasions. Although undefeated, Schwarz has yet to face anyone of note, much less anyone as high-level as Fury. With Wilder scheduled to fight Dominic Breazeale on Showtime this May, and multi-titlist Anthony Joshua set to face Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller on the DAZN streaming service in June, team Fury had to look for an opponent unencumbered by the politics of contemporary boxing.

Fury, one of the more colorful figures in boxing, can regularly be expected to do the unexpected. After stunning the fight world by besting long reigning heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko late in 2015, the now 27-0-1 Englishman descended into a world of depression, booze, drugs, and food. Emerging from the darkness, Fury then went on to surprise many when he almost beat the feared American puncher Wilder late last year. Now Fury has taken people by surprise again by teaming up with Arum and ESPN. Few, however, will likely expect any surprises when Fury steps back into the ring on June 15th in order to battle Schwarz.

With the heavyweight division now being more competitive than it has been in years, the three top fighters in the division, Fury, Wilder, and Joshua, are nonetheless fighting under different promotional banners, which will make any matches between two of the three men quite difficult to make from here on in. In terms of legacy, and also finances, each fighter – along with the fighter’s teams – will most likely want to eventually settle all matters in the ring, however. How such clarity will come about, remains to be seen at this point.

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