By: Hans Themistode
Lineal champion Tyson Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) caught a lot of flak for his June 15th contest against Tom Schwarz. After coming off a highly disputed draw against WBC belt holder Deontay Wilder, Fury was expected to take on a stiff challenge.
Schwarz proved that he was not in the same league as Fury or any of the top Heavyweights. It was a one sided beating when they met up at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fury landed every and anything he wanted which led to a second round knockout.
Now that the rematch between Wilder and Fury is officially taking place in the first quarter of 2020, the boxing world is thrilled. First things first however, they both must get thorough their respective matchups. Wilder has a November date with Luis Ortiz in what will be a rematch. It’s a dangerous fight for Wilder. One that he could very well lose.
Fury doesn’t seem to be taking the same level of risk that Wilder is. He’s set to take on Otto Wallin on September 14th at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas. Fury is very much expected to run through Wallin, much like he did against Schwarz. In fact, both Wallin and Schwarz share eerie similarities to one another.
Wallin is currently undefeated and in his mid twenties in terms of his age. So was Schwarz. They both aren’t known to the public but at least according to their records have similar punching power. They are also the exact same height, standing at six feet five and a half.
We all just witnessed what Fury can do to an unknown fighter with seemingly the same skill set. Taking a look at the resume of Wallin doesn’t exactly provide confidence as this will be a massive step up in class. It isn’t just the difference in skills but there is also a big difference in terms of activity. Wallin hasn’t truly fought in over a year.
His contest against Nick Kisner earlier this year ended in the second round thanks to a nasty head butt which put an end to that contest earlier than expected. Wallin was then supposed to jump in the ring against BJ Flores but that fight was scratched at the very last minute as well. The last time Wallin fought a full contest was on April 21st, 2018 when he defeated Adrian Granat.
This seems like a calculated move by Fury. Take on a fighter who on paper, looks to be a formidable challenger, but in reality they are inexperienced and a bit rusty. His future opponent Deontay Wilder is taking risk after risk while Fury seems to be playing it safe, but is he really? Wallin is an unknown to the public and nothing about his skill set would present a belief to anyone that he can win this fight.
It looks as though Wallin is just being used as a soft touch. Remember, this is the sport go boxing so anything can happen but it sure doesn’t seem like Wallin has a shot during this contest.