By Ian S Palmer
Sam Sexton of Norwich will be defending his British Heavyweight Title against Hughie Fury of Stockport in Bolton this Saturday, May 12th. The 12 round bout can be seen live on Channel 5 in the UK. Sexton won the vacant title last October with a unanimous decision over Gary Cornish. Fury’s last outing came in September when he dropped a majority decision to Joseph Parker in a shot at the WBO Heavyweight Crown in Manchester.
The 23-year-old Fury enters the ring with an impressive record of 20-1 with 10 Kos. His only pro loss was to Parker last year. Fury doesn’t really have much in the way of power even though his current knockout ratio stands at 48 per cent. In fact, his pitty-pat and slapping punching style definitely did him no favours against Parker.
Fury is a decent-sized heavyweight though as he’s 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 80-inch reach. He hasn’t really beaten anybody in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division up to now since turning pro in 2013. He’s boxed a total of 104 rounds with victories against the likes of Fred Kassi, Dominick Guinn, Larry Olubamiwo, Andriy Rudenko and Matthew Greer. Fury had a pretty good amateur career, but he’s been mainly successful as a pro due to his size and decent boxing skills.
Sexton is a full decade older than Fury as he’s now 33 years old. He turned pro back in 2005 and has 144 rounds of experience under his belt since then. He’s not big by any means as Sexton is 6-feet-2-inches tall with a reach of 71 inches. Therefore, he has a nine-inch reach disadvantage and is four inches shorter than Fury. He owns a pretty good pro record of 24-3, but has just 9 Kos to his name for a current knockout ratio of just 33 per cent.
Sexton’s three losses came at the hands of Dereck Chisora by sixth-round stoppage in 2008 and again to Chisora in the 10th round two years later. He was also stopped in four rounds by David price in 2012. With three stoppage losses it’s fair to say that Sexton’s chin is somewhat questionable. His biggest wins have been over the likes of Martin Rogan (twice) and Larry Olubamiwo (twice). He’s also a former Commonwealth Champion and winner of the Prizefighter TV tournament.
Prediction…
Sexton’s already got a size and age disadvantage as soon as he enters the ring. When this is combined with his lack of power and susceptible chin he may be a sitting duck for Fury. If Fury doesn’t put anything on his punches then Sexton has a slight chance, but I’ll take Fury and a stoppage isn’t out of the question.
