Hello and welcome to the MGM Grand Garden Arena for tonight’s heavyweight clash between Tyson Fury and Tom Schwarz. When last we saw the Gypsy King, he’d just spent most of a December evening boxing the ears off Deontay Wilder, frustrating the WBC heavyweight champion with an effective jab and deft movement, even surviving a ninth-round knockdown to roar back in the final reel. He was dropped a second time by a violent combination in the last round, seemingly unconscious on descent, before somehow making it to his feet and settling for a split draw. Although Fury failed in his bid to regain the world heavyweight championship he’d won from Wladimir Klitschko but never lost in the ring, the career-best performance sent his stock through the roof. Indeed, Fury signed a money-spinning contract with Top Rank and ESPN on the heels of it.
That partnership begins tonight with what can only be accurately described as a marking-time fight. Schwarz, a German who is somehow ranked No 2 by the World Boxing Organization despite being unknown to all but the most hardcore observers until the match was announced in April, looks the part at a strapping 6ft 5in, undefeated in 24 fights including 16 victories inside the distance. But the ledger is, shall we say, light on recognizable names and includes only one 10-rounder, a unanimous decision over the ordinary Dennis Lewandowski three years ago. He was a 12-1 longshot at the MGM Grand sports book when I arrived on Thursday and the number has drifted to 15-1 in the days since.
In short, Fury is expected to win and look good doing it.
