Tyson Fury - Professional Career

Professional Career

Fury turned professional with promoter Mick Hennessy in December 2008 and represents Great Britain and Ireland. His debut came at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham on the undercard of the Carl Froch and Jean Pascal fight for the WBC super middleweight title. In this fight Fury defeated Hungary's Bela Gyongyosi (W3-L9-D2) with a first round knock-out.

His second fight was in January 2009, when Fury fought Germany's experienced Marcel Zeller who had won 21 of 23 bouts previously. Fury won the fight by TKO after it was stopped in the third round. On 28 February 2009, Fury beat another vastly more experienced fighter in 35 fight veteran Russian Daniil Peretyatko (W15-L20), winning by retirement in the second round due to a large cut on Peret's eye The bout took place in Norwich on the undercard of Jon Thaxton's first defence of his European Lightweight title.

On 14 March 2009, at the Aston Events Centre in Birmingham Tyson beat fellow Briton Lee Swaby (W23-L22-D2) by retirement. On 11 April 2009, Fury continued the unbeaten start to his career by beating Englishman Matthew Ellis (W20-L6-D1) at the York Hall by knock-out 48 seconds into the first round.

On 23 May 2009, Fury had his first eight-round fight, beating Northern Ireland's 6ft 7inch fellow prospect Scott Belshaw (W10-L1) by second-round TKO with 52 seconds of the second round. Belshaw was knocked down twice in the first round, both times by body shots.

Fury's next fight was due to take place on 12 June, though after suffering a back injury in training the bout was cancelled. Fury returned to the ring on 18 July 2009, beating Latvian Aleksandrs Selezens (W3-L6) 48 seconds into the 3rd round, despite the fight almost being cancelled due to Fury's continuing back injury.

The BBBofC decided that the youthful Fury in only what was to be his 8th bout, would fight the vastly more experienced John McDermott (W25-L5) for the English title before the end of November. The fight was confirmed for 11 September at the Brentwood International Centre.

On 11 September, Fury controversially beat John McDermott with a disputed points decision. Both boxers stated they would like a rematch. Many boxing observers scored the contest in favour of McDermott, and promoter Frank Maloney labelled referee Terry O'Connor a "disgrace to British Boxing" after his decision.

On 26 September, Fury made his Irish debut, winning a clear 6 round decision against the durable Czech journeyman Tomas Mrazek (W4-L22-D5) on the undercard of Bernard Dunne versus Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at The O2 in Dublin.

Fury then vacated the English title due to a broken hand sustained in the victory over Tomas Mrazek.

On the 5th of March 2010 Fury knocked out Germany's Hans-Joerg Blasko (W9-L3) in the first round in Huddersfield.

On 26 June 2010, Fury again faced John McDermott in a rematch for the vacant English heavyweight title; the fight also served as a British heavyweight title fight eliminator. In round six, Fury sustained a deep cut above his right eye near the end of the round after an accidental clash of heads. In round seven, Fury was penalised for holding McDermott and was subsequently deducted a point by referee, Dave Parris. In the eighth, Fury knocked down McDermott with a short right hook. In the 9th round Fury knocked down McDermott twice more before the referee stopped the fight, at 1 minute 8 seconds of the ninth round. All three judges had scored the contest 77-73 in favour of Fury going into the ninth round.

On 10th September 2010 Fury faced then unbeaten American prospect Rich Power (W12-L0) in London, winning all 8 rounds on the referee's scorecard.

For his 13th professional bout, Fury travelled to North America for the first time, defeating the highly experienced and durable American Zack Page (W21-L32-D2) over 8 rounds in Quebec City, Canada, all three judges giving him every round.

Fury's first fight of 2011 took place against Brazil's then unbeaten Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (W13-L0) at Wembley Arena on 19th February. Nascimento was coming off a good win over the respected Omar Basile, however Fury floored Nascimento in the first round, and went on to win by knockout in round 5.

The victory over McDermott had elevated Fury to the position of mandatory challenger to the highly regarded and unbeaten Dereck Chisora (W14-L0) for the British Heavyweight Title. This fight was held on 23 July 2011. By the end of the fifth round Fury had caused Chisora's mouth to cut, causing heavy bleeding. From then on Chisora began to fade, with Fury winning a clear unanimous decision and the British Title.

Fury went on to fight the tough 6ft 6inch American fringe contender Nicolai Firtha (W20-L8-D1) (who had previously taken Alexander Povetkin the distance) at the King's Hall, Belfast, winning by TKO when the referee stopped the contest in the fifth round.

Fury defended his commonwealth title against undefeated Canadian champion Neven Pajkic (W16-L0) on 12 November 2011. The fight took place in Fury's home City of Manchester on 12 November. He was knocked down for the first time in his career in the second round by Pajkic, but ultimately won the fight by a controversial TKO in the third round, knocking down his opponent twice, one of which appeared to be as a result of a shove from Fury.

Fury vacated the British and Commonwealth titles in February 2012, stating that wished to concentrate on pursuing a world title.

On 14 April 2012, Fury competed against Belfast's Martin Rogan (W14-L2) (who held victories over Matt Skelton and Audley Harrison) for the vacant Irish heavyweight title. Fury showed versatility by fighting Southpaw for the first time in this bout, and halted Rogan in the fifth round with a body punch to win the title, making him the first man to win the English, Irish, British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.

On 7 July 2012 Fury outclassed the crowd pleasing American fringe contender Vinny Maddalone (W35-L7), winning the WBO Intercontinental Title by TKO in round 5.

On 1 December 2012, Fury fought American world title contender Kevin Johnson (W28-L2-D1). The fight went the full twelve rounds and Fury won via unanimous decision (UD)against the elusive and durable Johnson. Many criticised Fury's performance as there was a mixture of boo's and applause around the arena. However in the post-fight interview, Fury explained that his intentions were never to go steaming in as Kevin Johnson isn't an opponent that can be easily stopped. Johnson had previously taken World Champion Vitali Klitschko the full 12 rounds in a title challenge.

On 20 April 2013, Fury fought the highly ranked American former world Cruiserweight champion, Steve Cunningham (W25-L5) in his United States debut at Madison Square Garden Theater. The bout was an IBF Title Eliminator to determine the Number 2 World Ranking, with the winner then needing to fight unbeaten Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev for the mandatory position for a tilt at the long reigning Ukranian world champion Wladimir Klitschko. Cunningham came into the fight on the rebound from a controversial split decision loss to the very highly ranked Tomasz Adamek of Poland. Fury fought wildly in the first two rounds, and was floored by Cunningham in the 2nd round. However Fury rebounded and knocked Cunningham out for the first time in his career with a right hand in the seventh round.

This win gave the 24 year old Fury a world ranking of 7 according to Boxrec, a number 2 ranking according to the International Boxing Federation, 6th with the World Boxing Council, and 5th with the World Boxing Organization.