By Peter Fury: We’re in the south of France, we’ve got excellent facilities and the weather is perfect. It’s 35-degrees every day. What more could anyone ask for?
We’re on top of a mountain, living by an old monastery, and it’s a struggle just getting up the steep hills each day. There’s plenty of outside activities, too. The lads in camp are doing a lot of core work, strength and conditioning, and simply using the nature and the land around us. It’s fabulous. We’ve got the sea to swim in – and they’re doing that three times a week – and we’ve got excellent boxing facilities. All in all, it’s a good camp out here. I couldn’t be happier.
Of course, given that we’re staying in an old monastery, the boxers are all living like monks. It’s eat, sleep and train, three times a day. We start at nine o’clock in the morning and finish at around ten at night.
Hughie and Young Fury are both fighting on July 25 in Derby and both are looking really sharp in camp.
Hughie is doing ten rounds no problem at all. He’s working on a few things, trying a few things out, and he’s doing well. He’s on course, he’s had a good camp. In fact, by the time the fight comes around, he’ll have completed a ten-week camp.
We’re still waiting for Hughie’s opponent to be confirmed, which is a bit frustrating. We’ve had a few letdowns in recent weeks – big names who have been offered big money but haven’t fancied the job. We’ve offered people in the top ten and top fifteen a lot of money to face Hughie on July 25 and they’ve all categorically said ‘no’.
Frankly, some of these men should be embarrassed. I don’t know what they’re waiting for. They’ve been offered good money – the kind they won’t get anywhere else – and still they don’t want any of it.
Some of these heavyweights don’t really belong in the top ten. They hand-pick opponents and just bide their time waiting for a title shot. That’s all well and good, but you still have to earn your place in the top ten by winning fights and beating those fighters around you. The fighters in question here haven’t been doing that, though. They’re running scared of a 20-year-old with 15 fights to his name.
These men in the top ten and top fifteen see a 20-year-old Hughie Fury ranked in the top fifty and they don’t want to know. We then try to convince them to take the risk by upping the money and handing them a career-high payday. That still doesn’t work.
And that’s the difficulty we’re having right now. We’re trying to find world-class opponents for Hughie, but most world-class opponents don’t want to risk their ranking against him.
So, by all means, if you read this and you happen to be a top fifteen-ranked heavyweight, give promoter Mick Hennessy a call – we may have a fight for you.
*** Tickets for Blackwell vs. Jones & Fury vs. TBA can be purchased from the Derby Arena Box Office on 01332 255800 or by visiting www.derbylive.co.uk ***
*** Blackwell vs. Jones will be televised live on Channel 5 on July 25, while the supporting undercard will be televised live earlier in the evening on Spike ***
