Tyson Fury ‘I’m not ready for Klitschko just yet’

Fury 23, feels his crash course boxing career and philosophy of taking on all comers in a short professional career to date, has hindered his skills and he believes he needs more learning fights before his ultimate aim of fighting the unified champions.

The Manchester heavyweight has had 15 professional unbeaten fights in 3 years, unifying the British, Commonwealth and English titles along the way and shown big heart and bravery to silence his critics with the nature of his unanimous points win over Dereck Chisora in his last fight.

While talk of a Klitschko fight for Fury is being branded about, Fury insists he still has much to learn before he is ready to step up to the level of the brothers, although the fighting blood in him would jump at the chance to challenge for a world title so early in his career, he is switched on enough to realise his time will come.

Fury is ready to go back to basics on his mission to become a world champion, feeling he has had to neglect his boxing in order to overcome his recent opponents with his sheer size, heart and granite chin and not his skill set which he believes has suffered.

Talking about his thoughts on facing one of the Klitschkos this year, Fury said “I’m not ready, I’m a novice, Klitschko would knock me out.”

“I need to go back to basics and learn how to fight again,” he said. “When I was 14 and 15 I used to fight with 10-punch combinations, now I can’t put two and three combinations together.

“I’m winning fights, but I can’t do what I did before. I was the fastest heavyweight since Muhammad Ali, but I’ve just gone slow, sluggish.

“Big, lumbering heavyweights are hitting me when I used to be able dance around them and put 10, six, 10-combinations together.

“I’m winning because I’m so big, I’ve got a heart to keep going and my chin is all right too. But I’m not winning because of my skill.”

“I want to learn my trade,” he said. “I’m not getting enough time to do it.

“I’m being rushed into big fights and when you are in a big 50-50 fight, you can’t learn your trade because you are fighting to win.

“I can’t go into a fight and practice new things when I’ve got some demon going at me full speed ahead.

“Look at the Klitschos when they’d had 15 fights. For me every fight is a big one. For someone so inexperienced it shouldn’t be like that.

“You’ve only got one career in boxing. Only one life. If I mess it up I can’t say it was anyone else’s fault, I can only say it was my fault.

“I’ve got to stand up and be counted and say this is what I want to do.” Fury told The Manchester Evening News.

On Saturday night at Belfast’s King’s Hall, less than 2 months after defeating Chisora, the Fury bandwagon continues on against dangerous American Nicolai Firtha.

Fury has chosen Firtha after Martin Rogan pulled out and Fury says the American is dangerous after taking WBA champ Alexander Povetkin the distance in December.

“Anybody who knows anything about boxing can see that this is a risky fight because Firtha has gone the distance with the man who now holds the WBA belt,” said Fury.