04-27-2017, 11:23 AM
Stuart Duncan
12 hrs ·
I got the phone call no matchmaker likes receiving Saturday telling me Fury has pulled out - Joe is fuming as he's been in camp since Jan & we've already had one shift from April to May. So being 2 weeks out, I spend my weekend trying to resurrect the event & scouring the top 15, as the WBO said that due to the circumstances it can be a non mandatory challenge. The criteria while scanning the top 15 is preferably someone around 6'6 (Furys height) .. 10 are out as they are either booked to fight or just fought (inc Fury & Ruiz) and of the 5 left you have 3 who are short (5'11 / 6' & 6'1) .. leaving Cojanu or Breazeale .. Cojanu I was uncomfortable with as he has been sparring Joe and while holding his own is one thing - he has the added benefit of understanding Joe's style better than most. Breazeale is absolutely nothing like Fury and in fairness to Joe who is already behind the 8 ball - a fight with Breazeale would require a proper camp with sparring partners with similar styles. I actually secured Cojanu on Sunday and had airline tickets booked first thing Monday morning. Cojanu had 300 amateur fights and its obvious we had nothing to do with him being rated inside the top 15 in the world - we don't chose that - the sanctioning body does. What I will say is this - the Ruiz fight was made harder by the fact that he had sparred rounds with Joe and entered the ring having a good understanding of Joe's style - Cojanu enters the ring with that same benefit and in my opinion his style makes for a more excting fight than Fury - 2 totally different styles. Remember when you secure sparring partners - the gig requires boxers of similar stature to the opponent you are facing and have the ability of adapting to their styles. So what Cojanu has been doing in camp will be entirely different to what we see on May 6.
12 hrs ·
I got the phone call no matchmaker likes receiving Saturday telling me Fury has pulled out - Joe is fuming as he's been in camp since Jan & we've already had one shift from April to May. So being 2 weeks out, I spend my weekend trying to resurrect the event & scouring the top 15, as the WBO said that due to the circumstances it can be a non mandatory challenge. The criteria while scanning the top 15 is preferably someone around 6'6 (Furys height) .. 10 are out as they are either booked to fight or just fought (inc Fury & Ruiz) and of the 5 left you have 3 who are short (5'11 / 6' & 6'1) .. leaving Cojanu or Breazeale .. Cojanu I was uncomfortable with as he has been sparring Joe and while holding his own is one thing - he has the added benefit of understanding Joe's style better than most. Breazeale is absolutely nothing like Fury and in fairness to Joe who is already behind the 8 ball - a fight with Breazeale would require a proper camp with sparring partners with similar styles. I actually secured Cojanu on Sunday and had airline tickets booked first thing Monday morning. Cojanu had 300 amateur fights and its obvious we had nothing to do with him being rated inside the top 15 in the world - we don't chose that - the sanctioning body does. What I will say is this - the Ruiz fight was made harder by the fact that he had sparred rounds with Joe and entered the ring having a good understanding of Joe's style - Cojanu enters the ring with that same benefit and in my opinion his style makes for a more excting fight than Fury - 2 totally different styles. Remember when you secure sparring partners - the gig requires boxers of similar stature to the opponent you are facing and have the ability of adapting to their styles. So what Cojanu has been doing in camp will be entirely different to what we see on May 6.