BBN preview the Tyson Fury vs Francesco Pianeta fight
He’s back…again!
It’s stage two of the comeback campaign for the Lineal world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (26-0-KO19) as he takes on former European champion and two-time world title challenger Francesco Pianeta (35-4-1-KO21) at Windsor Park on August 18.
‘The People’s Champion’ returned from his two-and-a-half-year hiatus against Sefer Seferi (23-1) on June 9 in front of his home fans in Manchester and retired the cruiserweight in the fourth round.
The performance was not unconvincing and too playful, but there were flashes of brilliance from the big man and it was a dominant display, albeit over very weak opposition.
It really was just a routine win against an challenger that would not cause concern and was only there to simply allow Tyson to dust off the cobwebs and get rid of the ring rust ahead of the more serious fights in his comeback trail.
WATCH: Fury in his last fight against Seferi
For me, Pianeta, represents a more serious contender in ‘The Gypsy King’s’ return, as a man who won the WBC world youth crown before picking up EBU and WBO European titles, and has twice challenged for world honours – losing to Wladimir Klitschko in 2013 and to Ruslan Chagaev two years later. A southpaw and former European champion that has twice fought at world level is a completely credible opponent, in my eyes, at this stage of Tyson’s quest for world domination – Take two.
The 33-year-old Italian-born German resident may have claimed five titles during his 13-year career but he has only had his hand raised three times in his last five fights and comes into the scheduled 10-round non-title contest off the back of a points loss.
WATCH: Pianeta once fough and defeated the legendary Oliver McCall
He gives away four inches in height to Fury and will be considerably lighter than the 6’9” former unified world heavyweight champion.
No doubt that Tyson’s continued dedication to training will see a much trimmer figure in the ring on Saturday night, but we can all expect him to be well over a stone heavier than his dance partner still.
Strict trainer Ben Davison, who only allowed his student one week off in eight months of training for his last fight, has laid down the law and told Tyson that he wants him to have his serious head on and not play to the sell-out crowd at Windsor Park.
Tyson has also reiterated the instructions, stating that the joker will be gone in the next fight and it’ll be strictly business.
It will certainly need to be if Frank Warren pulls off the WBC world title shot for Fury at titlist Deontay Wilder, who will be sat ringside for this fight.
There will be an inevitable face-off after the event, that’s if the result goes according to Team Fury’s plans, so expect some potentially big news following the heavyweight contest.
First things first for Tyson, there’s a hungry and ambitious word title contender, who will be grabbing his chance to shine on the big stage with both hands, before any glimpse of a green belt can be realised.
Four of his last five victories have come via knockout so Tyson, who has been floored before by Steve Cunningham and little-known Nevan Pajkic before, will have to be at his best and show no signs of showboating or complacency.
From what I’ve heard in the build-up from the big man himself and his trainer Ben, there’s no reason to suspect anything other than a dominant and ruthless rendition from the man eager to win back the world titles he never lost in the ring.
Pianeta has been knocked out three times before in his career already – Klitschko (R6); Chagaev (R1); Johnson (R7) – and I believe he’ll be going asleep again this weekend.
I truly believe that Tyson Fury is ready to reign again, this time with a wiser more experienced (and media savvy) head on his shoulders, and genuinely wants the showdown with Wilder, where many others do not – no names named.
For that reason, I expect Tyson to stop the ‘The Italian Ace’ between rounds three to six.