As chief support at the O2 Arena, London, making his debut under the Matchroom banner, the stage was set for Hughie Fury to deliver a breakout performance against Alexander Povetkin, an ageing former World Heavyweight Champion.
Once again though, disappointingly Fury failed to fire, and Povetkin was able to dictate the action to secure a comfortable points win.
This is the third time that Hughie has stepped up to world level, and he hasn’t yet fulfilled his potential on all three occasions. He had been fast tracked to WBO number one status after a twenty fight winning streak against very limited opposition.
in September 2017, at the age of just 24, he challenged for the WBO Heavyweight Title against Joseph Parker, and although Team Fury screamed robbery, the New Zealander was rightfully adjudged a majority decision winner. This was Fury’s first career reverse, and although he rebounded to pick up the British Title with a stoppage of Sam Sexton, he then climbed up to world class again, and was outgunned by Kubrat Pulev in Bulgaria in October last year. Hughie was cut early on in the contest, and then proceeded to go into his shell, allowing the Bulgarian to rack up the points for a well earned win.
Fury then blew out an over matched Chris Norrad, before labouring to a foul filled retirement wi against the badly faded Nigerian, Samuel Peter in Saudi Arabia in July.
This paved the way for a change in promotional team, and the launchpad for his move to Eddie Hearn and the Matchroom stable was meant to be a win against a significant opponent in Povetkin.
What is more worrying for Fury is the manner of his defeats, in which he almost is afraid to pull the trigger in the fights where the opponent fights back. Even though he is only 24 years old, this trend has to stop, and as a result of his three defeats, it’s likely he will now be matched tough if he harbours World Title ambitions.
I’d personally like to see Fury beat some solid gatekeeper type fighters before taking on the elite again.
We could well see him end up clashing with domestic fighters such as Dave Allen or David Price, who both operate under the same promotional outfit as Hughie. He certainly needs a breakout win, as he hasn’t yet announced himself as a solid contender, and statement wins over this level of opposition would help build his portfolio, as, in contrast to his cousin Tyson, Hughie is very much a quiet man.
