By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten heavyweight Tyson Fury of England climbs into the ring again this Saturday, August 18th in his second comeback bout when he takes on former sparring partner Francesco Pianeta of Italy. Fury fought in June for the first time since November, 2015 when he stopped Sefer Seferi after the fourth round. Pianeta also fought in June when he dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Petar Milas in a shot at the IBO International Heavyweight Title. When Fury upset Klitschko he won the IBF, WBO, IBO, and WBA world titles, but was then stripped of the belts and suspended for drug use. He’s now hoping to land a title shot against Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder. The fight can be seen live on Showtime Facebook and You Tube while Showtime Extreme is supposed to show it on tape-delay.
The 30-year-old Fury of Manchester is one of the bigger heavyweights out there as he stands 6-feet-9-inches tall with a wingspan of 85 inches. He enters the ring with a perfect mark of 26-0 along with 19 Kos and has 150 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008. He has better-than-average power with a current knockout ratio of 73 per cent. Fury possesses some decent, but awkward and unconventional boxing skills to go along with his power, but he also has a questionable chin and has been dropped by Steve Cunningham and Neven Pajkic.
Fury’s biggest win was obviously against Klitschko, but it was a terrible fight for the fans and Klitschko basically gave his titles away by not engaging with Fury. Other than that, Fury has beaten some pretty good journeymen along the way such as Christian Hammer, Dereck Chisora, Joey Abell, Steve Cunningham, Kevin Johnson, Marcelo Luiz Nascimento and Vinny Maddalone. Since turning pro after a fine amateur career, Fury has also captured the English, Commonwealth, British, Irish, European, WBO Inter-Continental and WBO International Heavyweight Titles.
Pianeta, a southpaw, is 33 years old and fights out of Germany. He enters the bout with a record of 35-4-1 along with 21 Kos. He’s a decent-sized heavyweight at 6-feet-5-inches tall, but still gives up four inches in height to Fury and unfortunately his reach is unlisted. He has decent power with a current knockout ratio of 53 per cent. He’s a former Muay Thai fighter who went 9-0 in that sport and retired from boxing briefly in 2010 when he was diagnosed with cancer. He also has a questionable chin since he’s been stopped three times. He turned pro in 2005 and has boxed 215 rounds since.
Pianeta was halted in the sixth round by Wladimir Klitschko in a world title shot in 2013 and in the second round by Ruslan Chagaev in another title shot in 2015. Kevin Johnson stopped him in the seventh round last October in a bout for the IBO International Heavyweight Title. His other loss was to Petar Milas by decision back in June. Pianeta’s beaten a few name fighters and former world champions such as Oliver McCall and Frans Botha, but they were well past their primes. He’s also beaten Donnell Wiggins, Michael Marrone Johann Duhaupas, Albert Sosnowski, Matt Skelton and Zack Page.
Prediction…
Pianeta isn’t too bad defensively and he can move around the ring pretty well for a big fellow, but so does Fury. Pianeta’s a southpaw and that could take Fury a round or two to figure out. It’s quite possible Pianeta is just here to survive though and won’t be taking any chances. If he does come to fight, anything could happen since neither boxer has the greatest chin. To beat Fury, Pianeta’s going to have to either knock him out or win the majority of rounds by dominating him. Neither of these scenarios is likely though.
