John Fury Vows To ‘Whip’ Tyson Into Shape

“I am going to be more involved this time. Father and son. Tyson’s going to win the heavyweight championship for the third time. He’s not in fantastic shape, that’s rubbish. But he will be. I’m going to go out there and whip him back into shape. That’s the job. Head down. Work. Build a body again. Learn to move. Learn to twist and be awkward. Look like a fighter. Look like a warrior. It does matter. If it’s muscle, fine. If it’s fat, it matters. I know where he went wrong. I know how to put it right,” John Fury said 

The Dangers

Fury has a well-documented history of massive weight fluctuations, but doing so in his late 30s is significantly more taxing. At his height (6’9″), Fury’s knees and ankles are already under immense pressure. With significant body fat and then performing high-impact explosive movements increases the risk of injury.

Rapidly cutting weight to reach “fighting shape” can lead to diminished punch resistance. We have seen this in other heavyweights; when a fighter sheds a lot of pounds in a single camp, they often enter the ring “drained,” making them more susceptible to being wobbled or knocked out by shots they would have previously shrugged off.

Coming back out of shape and facing a top-five heavyweight increases the likelihood of a knockout. History is littered with heavyweights who didn’t know when to quit—such as Bowe or Ali—whose late-career defeats could have been avoided.