Peter Fury: “Wladimir Klitschko now realizes 100% that there’s no mental edge over Tyson Fury whatsoever”

The heavyweight division has been looking for a marque fight for quite some time, and the scheduled contest been Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury had promised to deliver that type of a fight. This past weekend it was announced that reigning the IBO heavyweight champ, Wladimir Klitschko would have to delay the bout, and now the current status of the bout remains up in the air.

In this interview from “On The Ropes” boxing, trainer Peter Fury discusses in detail his thoughts on the fight postponement and when he believes the fight will happen. Fury also talks about the mental games played by Tyson and if he believes it had an effect on the heavyweight champ or not. Additionally, Fury talks about Pacquiao-Khan and about the delay helping Tyson Fury. Here is what Peter Fury had to say.

Jenna J: Wladimir Klitschko recently pulled out of his fight Tyson Fury, the fight is now going to be delayed. What did you think of the announcement?

Peter Fury: There’s not much that we can say or do. They pulled out with a calf injury, there’s nothing we can do. We’re trying to reschedule it to the 28th of November, we will know this week whether that can be the case or not. If not, then the next date will be February next year.

Jenna J: If the fight gets moved to February, that would mean that Tyson would have been out of the ring for a full year. How disappointed will you be if it does get moved to February?

Peter Fury: Yes it is disappointing but there’s nothing we can do about it. The only good thing with this is that Tyson will continue training all the way through it. He’s going to remain focused, it’s such a big fight. He’s just gotta keep his head down and keep in camp and he will keep training — obviously not as intense, but he will just keep training and working on things all the time.

Jenna J: Sometimes having delays in fights causes fighters to over train. How did you keep Tyson Fury at a steady keel?

Peter Fury: He will go running, he live a healthy lifestyle. He will train every day but he won’t be pushing it, he’ll just do steady things. Enjoyable training and enjoyable eating, eating healthy. He’s maintaining the body weight, he’ll check his weight on the scales every week, we’ll check his fat percentages and muscle density.

Everything will be checked from week to week to make sure he’s stabilized and everything is where it is. When we do get the new date, Tyson will be in perfect physical shape. He’ll be coming into camp on fight weight.

Jenna J: Do you think any of the things that Tyson Fury was doing or saying were getting to Klitschko at all?

Peter Fury: Personally, yes. I think Wladimir’s seen what Tyson is really about and he’s had an around the table speech with him for over an hour, where Tyson was predicting that he would pull out. This was going on for about and hour and I think the things that Tyson has to say to Wladimir, I think Wladimir’s probably gone back and said, “Look, we need more time for this guy, he’s a very serious threat. I need to adjust on my sparring partners because I think he’s going to do things which I’ve not really accounted for.”

I think reading between the lines it’s probably more of this so that Wladimir can get better prepared and maybe adjust and look for a few different sparring partners to adjust. If I was a betting man, I would say it’s more of this.

Jenna J: Wladimir Klitschko likes to get a lot of the young up and coming heavyweights into camp with him and he likes to spar with them. He had Tyson Fury in camp before, do you think he does that to get a mental edge over these young fighters?

Peter Fury: Yes, that is a big factor and I do believe he does do that. Wladimir plays a lot on the mental game and this is where he falls down with Tyson because
Wladimir now realizes 100% that there’s no mental edge over Tyson Fury whatsoever.

Just to set the fact straight, Tyson Fury has never sparred Wladimir Klitschko. They went in camp but Tyson never got to spar with Wladimir, so Tyson is the only challenger he’s probably ever faced in recent years that he’s never sparred with.

Jenna J: I want to get your thoughts on the boxing scene a little bit. Amir Khan has been linked to a fight with Manny Pacquiao, how do you think Khan would do in that fight?

Peter Fury: I think Amir Khan is a very good boxer and he’s got a good chance, however, Pacquiao is very strong. He’s a strong puncher and if he gets to Khan, then it will be over, and this is the problem.

I think when you get fighters on the top world level, it all depends just how good and how composed Khan can stay out of trouble. Anytime he comes to mix it, Khan will end up on the floor. I have to favor Manny Pacquiao in that fight by stoppage.

Jenna J: Back to the fight between Klitschko and Fury. When that fight does happen, do you think Tyson Fury will have a better performance in that match because of the delay?

Peter Fury: Yes I do. As a trainer, I’m happy with it because when getting that weight off, it’s always better for a fighter to be stabilized and take the weight off over periods of time. Even if we get it on the 28th of November, it suits Tyson better. He’s nearly on weight, he’s just going to get stronger and stronger. He will be in peak performance when they do step in that ring. The time delay benefit Tyson, it doesn’t do the reverse.