Tommy Fury quite literally faces his biggest challenge to date later this evening in the shape of Eddie Hall – but it won’t be the end of the world if he fails to get the job done.
Fury will return to the ring for the first time in over a year against the former World’s Strongest Man. The 27-year-old scored a convincing win over Kenan Hanjalic in his last appearance. As for Hall, he does have some slight experience in the world of combat sports. His only bout inside the squared-circle came in a defeat to Icelandic strongman Hafþor Julius Bjornsson four years ago.
But tonight’s dust-up with Fury in Manchester will be a real step up in competition for the Brit. And the 38-year-old is evidently looking for any possible advantage over his upcoming adversary. On Friday night, Hall officially weighed in at 108lb than the ex-Love Island star.
The ‘Beast’ came in at 325.6lb, compared to Fury’s compared to Fury’s 217.5lb – which is a career-heavy weight for a boxer who started his career as a light-heavyweight. While Fury will be looking to avoid a monumental upset, it won’t be all doom and gloom if he fails to get his hand raised. That is because this contest is an exhibition bout and will NOT count on their respective professional records.
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Fury is the bookies’ favourite coming into the contest, but it’s fair to say that the two main rules will favour Hall. The 38-year-old did not have to drain himself at all after there was no set weight limit imposed on him. As well as that, most men’s boxing fights are held over three-minute rounds but tonight’s bout will be staged over six two-minute sessions.
This means that Hall will be able to use his jaw-dropping size and pour it on Fury in short bursts rather than having to conserve a lot of energy. The short timings per round are very much common in the world of influencer boxing, but Fury will no doubt have pushed for an extra minute, as he is likely to have the advantage when it comes to stamina.
Tonight’s contest came to fruition after Hall rowed with Fury’s dad John who called on his son to end the feud. Hall said: “I bumped in John and I had the conversation about fighting Tyson, I saw he was training MMA. I was trying to instigate the fight but it rubbed him up the wrong way. But things got a little heated.
“Things got a little bit heated. You’re all full of s**t. You’re just all full of f***ing talk. You all walk around like hard men like you’re gonna beat this guy down, beat that guy down, you’ll fight anyone, you’re fighting men. There’s not a lot of action, especially from John.
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“I’d like to shut your dad up and put you in your place and then maybe I’ll get the Tyson Fury MMA fight. Sorry it has come to this but sometimes men have to settle their differences. This is not a friendly encounter. I want to go in there and prove a point.”
On the undercard at the Manchester Arena, Ibiza Final Boss – real name Jack Kay – will make his boxing debut almost a year after enjoying overnight success. He burst on to the limelight when he was pictured with his unique look in Ibiza and will fight for the first time against rapper Jordan McCann on the undercard.
