Glen McCroy: “Tyson Fury’s a big man, he can punch, he can box, he’s got bags of heart and courage. You can’t count him out!”

I had a chance to speak with former IBF cruiserweight champion and Sky commentator, Glenn McCrory. During a career that spanned nine years, McCrory faced the likes of Jeff Lampkin and Lennox Lewis, before retiring and starting a successful career as a boxing analyst.

In this interview, Glen McCrory spoke about the British boxing resurgence, whether Amir Khan deserves a shot against Floyd Mayweather after his underwhelming performance against Chris Algieri. McCrory also shared his views on the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, including his thoughts on a possible rematch and much more. Here is what Glenn McCrory had to say.

Robert Brown: Glenn how do you feel about the health and future of UK boxing at the moment?

Glenn McCrory: Boxing is doing extremely well. I think the build up to the Olympic games was very good. The amateur boxing is doing so well in the Olympics. I think one thing after another is pushing boxing in the UK to great heights and fighters continue to do better and better.

I think all of the sudden, there’s the realization that fighters can achieve world titles, that they can get up there amongst the best in the world. There is a great sense of belief in British boxing and Irish boxing now.

Robert Brown: What are your thoughts on Lee Selby? Do you think he could be a future star in this sport?

Glenn McCrory: Selby could be a great. He’s come on the scene, he’s done everything that’s been asked of him and he’s done it all really in second gear. I think there’s a great future for him. The show against Evgeny Gradovich, it’s almost like the better the fighter, the better Lee Selby is. I’m looking for some great fights from Lee Selby, he’s definitely a superb talent and I think the more the British public sees of him, the bigger he’ll become.

Robert Brown: Who out there would you like to see Lee Selby face?

Glenn McCrory: There’s great fights out there for him. There’s big names in the featherweight division. Nicholas Walters didn’t look great defending his title. Vasyl Lomachenko is up there as well great names in Jhonny Gonzalez and Abner Mares.

Selby is in a good weight division, but also there’s fights beneath him with Rigondeaux or Frampton or Santa Cruz if he wants to go to super bantamweight. Amongst the small men, Selby’s gonna be a fighter that people want to fight.

Robert Brown: Tyson Fury appears to be set to fight Wladimir Klitschko in the fall. Do you give him a chance in that fight?

Glenn McCrory: You gotta give him a chance. In the heavyweight division, we saw with Deontay Wilder, that if somebody is off form, anything could happen. Wilder made Molina look okay. Tyson Fury is an undefeated fighter who is 24-0 and he’s earned this opportunity and I’m looking forward to seeing him in with Wladimir Klitschko.

The one thing we haven’t seen from Tyson Fury is a serious Tyson Fury, somebody who really gets down to work. He’s always been joking and playing about and doing silly things, so hopefully in this fight against Klitschko we see Tyson Fury really in the zone and trying really hard. He’ll have to do that, and you never know. He’s a big man, he can punch, he can box, he’s got bags of heart and courage. You can’t count him out.

Robert Brown: Amir Khan looked less than impressive in his last fight against Chris Algieri, do you think he is deserving of Floyd Mayweather fight, or do you think someone like Kell Brook should get the shot instead?

Glenn McCrory: I think he’s one of the fighters who is deserving of a Mayweather shot. The fact is, it’s not really down to who deserves the shot with Mayweather, it’s who Mayweather picks. He’s in pole position, Mayweather does what Mayweather wants.

Floyd gets the fights he wants, he doesn’t care about the sanctioning, he doesn’t care about any of that. Both fighters are very deserving of a shot against Mayweather — or as deserving as any other — but Mayweather does what he wants, so we don’t know who he’s gonna put in there with him.

Robert Brown: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao finally took place, and it was not what the fans hoped it would be. Do you think because of Manny Pacquiao’s injury that there is a reason to see a rematch?

Glenn McCrory: I don’t particularly think so. First of all, Pacquiao said that he thought he won the fight, which was ridiculous. Then all of the sudden he’s got an excuse that he had a bad shoulder. I think it’s a little bit of bad sportsmanship from Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather did what he always does, he takes away the powers of fighters, anything they’re good at, he takes it away.

Pacquiao was disappointed but Mayweather did what he does best, defensive boxing, counter punching. I think he also in the fist three rounds he did what he had to do and that was put Pacquiao in his place. He was in the center of the ring and hit Pacquiao with good shots and after that point, Manny Pacquiao just couldn’t really fancy it.

Pacquiao certainly didn’t want to engage with him. He got him on the ropes enough times and then it was Pacquiao who was backing off, and you don’t normally see that. I think Mayweather boxed within himself against Pacquiao and I can’t see Pacquiao doing any better.

Robert Brown: Recently Adrien Broner lost to Shawn Porter and did not look that good in the fight. Where do you think his career goes now after that loss?

Glenn McCrory: I’m not sure where he goes. One thing is for sure, Broner calls himself ‘The Problem’ and that ‘Problem’ has been well and truly solved. Marcos Maidana showed everybody what you have to do. You just got to be aggressive and put the pressure on him and he doesn’t want it.

I think he’s a fighter now that as you say in the game is a bit gun shy. He’s lost his confidence and when you throw rapid combinations, he throws one punch and then he has to grab. When fighters get like that, that’s because they’re scared of the retaliation, they’re scared of something coming back at them.

I think that’s what happens, and you can be a super talented fighter but nobody likes getting punched in the mouth. I think a few punches from Maidana in the mouth really have solved the problem of Adrien Broner. His credibility is gone as well. Luckily he pulled out one good punch in the twelfth round but it was a very casual Shawn Porter who kind of just resigned himself to a points win and Broner caught him.

Broner got one little bit of credibility but other than that, there’s not much credibility left in Adrien Broner. He does make matters worse for himself with his distasteful comments, so he really is a person who when things aren’t going good for him and he looks around for people to help him, there’s gonna be nobody there. There’s gonna be nobody wanting to give Adrien Broner a hand up and that’s everything he deserves, he’s a three weight world champion and he’s only 25 years of age.

There’s a lot more he can certainly do but for me, he needs to go back down to lightweight and get himself established again. He’s not big enough for the welterweights, he’s not big enough to challenge the top guys.