Since the world heavyweight title showdown between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury was announced earlier this year, we have seen and heard everything from obscene language, injury pullouts and a man attend a press conference dressed as Batman. On Saturday night, five weeks later than originally scheduled, the world will get to see whether Fury can cause one of the biggest shocks of the last decade by dethroning a champion who has accumulated 18 successive defences since he beat American Chris Byrd in 2006.
Fury isn't one of the biggest outsiders to face Klitschko over the course of those nine years. In fact, the Ukrainian has rarely been as low as 1/5 with the bookmakers since becoming world champion. However, while the British fighter is younger and fresher than a man who will be competing in his 68th professional contest this weekend, it is impossible to get past the fact that Klitschko has barely been troubled during his current title reign. The likes of David Haye, Alexander Povetkin and Kubrat Pulev were all supposed to pose the 39-year-old challenges that he had not previously faced, but the end result was the same on each occasion.
Haye is the fastest, and arguably hardest puncher, that Klitschko has come up against, but he barely got close to the champion. Povetkin was supposed to apply relentless pressure and bring an all-round game to trouble Klitschko but he hit the canvas four times in one of the scruffiest fights in recent memory. The tall, seemingly agile, Pulev mixed things up by attacking Klitschko from the first bell 12 months ago but the result of the Bulgarian going for broke from the first bell was being floored four times during a destructive, explosive performance from a man who shows no signs of slowing down, despite his time spent in the ring.
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Much has been made of Fury's versatility, his potential to switch from orthodox to southpaw, his marginally greater size than Klitschko, but this is nothing that Klitschko has not seen before. He has perhaps not experienced all of the same attributes in an opponent at the same time, but it should not be too much of an issue for him to adapt his strengths against a fighter who still needs to prove himself on the biggest stage, with his best victories of his career remaining his two triumphs over Dereck Chisora.
This is something that Fury has openly admitted, yet it is not necessarily his fault given the two famous withdrawals of Haye in 2013. He was always considered the outsider against Haye due to his previous displays in the ring, but there has always been a suggestion emanating from Fury's camp that he will only produce his best when posed with the most difficult of tests, and while we are unlikely to ever see how Haye against Fury would have turned out, the 27-year-old has the ideal platform to show that he deserves to be regarded as one of the best prospects in the division.
Regardless of the end outcome in Germany, the fight is reward for the patience and professionalism that Fury has showed over the past two-and-a-half years. The win against Steve Cunningham at Madison Square Garden in April 2013 was supposed to open doors for the Morecambe-based puncher, but it has resulted in a number of setbacks that have threatened to derail a promising career. His desperation and sheer eagerness to get everything back on track was evident last November when he decided to proceed with his world title eliminator with Chisora, despite being ill in the build-up to the fight.
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Most fighters would have withdrawn, but after one outing in 19 months - a four-round tune-up against Joey Abell - it simply was not an option, and exactly a year after dismantling Chisora, and almost 36 months since he first featured in a world title eliminator, he gets the opportunity to compete against the best fighter in the division, something he has craved all of his career. Fury has long been perceived negatively by much of the British public - sometimes justifiably, sometimes not - but it would take the most cold-hearted of people to deny that he does not deserve his shot this weekend.
Nevertheless, unlike some of Wladimir's previous opponents, Fury is not there just to pick up a pay cheque, and it is that mentality that will probably see the fight end well inside the distance. Some have predicted a scrappy fight with lots of holding and jabbing from Klitschko, but realistically, that won't materialise. Fury is under-rated from a tactical perspective, but he must find the balance between getting himself involved in a fight and working on the outside, potentially using his own jab and counters in an attempt to trouble the style of Klitschko. That might be easier said than done for a man who seems to be keen for an old-fashioned tear-up.
Fury's unpredictability is regarded as a strength, but it can also be his weakness if he does not adopt the correct strategy for this fight. He isn't favoured to stop Klitschko, and the general feeling is that he won't win a decision in Germany, unless it is by a clear margin. His best chance could be to adopt a high work-rate in the hope that Klitschko fades in the latter stages, but it could come at a price if he allows Klitschko too much control in the centre of the ring.
The smart money is on a Klitschko stoppage given the risks that Fury will have to take to get into this fight. Pulev did the same thing with limited success and ended up on the canvas twice in the first round, so there should not be any surprise if this fight comes to an abrupt halt in either man's favour. A short fight may be an unfulfilling conclusion given the drama of the build-up, but this is heavyweight boxing. Fury has promised a rendition of Aerosmith's 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' should he win in Dusseldorf - a song that could not be more apt given the magnitude of this fight.
Darren Plant
