Sparring issues keep Fury in UK
Sparring ‘‘issues’’ have seen British boxer Hughie Fury delay his arrival in New Zealand to fight Joseph Parker for the WBO heavyweight title.
The two square off in Auckland on May 6 and Fury had spoken hopefully of giving himself four or five weeks in New Zealand ahead of the fight.
But he remains in Bolton, basing his preparations at a gym on the outskirts of Manchester, and now won’t arrive in Auckland until possibly less than a fortnight before the fight.
‘‘We had a few issues with sparring partners. We are just finalising things at the moment. We are looking forward to coming out there,’’ Fury’s trainer and father Peter Fury said.
Fury said they were over that hiccup now and described training as ‘‘going very well over here’’.
He was confident they would have enough time to acclimatise after the long trip from Britain and Hughie would be tapering his training in Auckland.
‘‘We’ve got the best team. We’ve got the best paramedics, best of advice and nutritionists. We’ve got a big team here. They’re looking at everything and at first we were coming four to five weeks out but when we really assessed it and sat down, there was no need. So a couple of weeks, 10 to 14 days is plenty,’’ Peter Fury said.
‘‘We’ve calculated it very well. We’re very happy where we are and that’s it. Sparring is going very well, but we don’t want to disrupt camp. Last two weeks we’re there, it’s more or less a down time. We’ve done all the work.’’
Fury said their assessment of Parker had failed to uncover any glaring weaknesses. He predicted an exciting fight and promised Hughie Fury wouldn’t stop coming forward in his quest to win the coveted belt. Both were young with still plenty to prove.
‘‘These are two hungry fighters. Joseph Parker has just won the belt, he’s got a lot to prove as well. To prove he’s the best heavyweight out there and so does Hughie,’’ Peter Fury said.
‘‘It’s not going to be a fight like they think it is going to be. Hughie is coming to lift that belt. He knows to lift that belt he’s got to hold his feet, hold his ground and let Parker respect his power, so we are looking at all these types of things.’’
While he talked up Parker’s need to knock out Fury, he wouldn’t be drawn on the opposite happening, with Parker having 18 KOS in his unbeaten run over 22 fights.
There is a firm feeling that Parker has superior power than Fury who has 10 knockouts in his unblemished professional record over 20 fights. ’’Anything’s possible in a boxing ring.’’