Fury: ‘I feel sorry for poor old Tom Schwarz’

The lineal heavyweight champ returns June 15 in Las Vegas, making his ESPN debut.

Tyson Fury says he’s fit and feeling good in training for his June 15 fight in Las Vegas against little-known, lightly-regarded, likely-overmatched Tom Schwarz, which will be Fury’s first fight under his new deal with Top Rank, which means his fights will air on ESPN networks in the United States. Fury-Schwarz will stream live on ESPN+.

“I came into camp fit. I’ve been training twice a day since the Deontay Wilder fight,” he says.

“I had to be forced to take a week off recently, because I was way ahead of schedule on me weight. Really sharp, really fit, sometimes worrying to be this advanced in the training camp. But I’m taking it all in stride. This is all new to me. I’ve never, ever been this way ahead of schedule before going into fights. I just feel sorry for poor old Tom Schwarz, I really do.”

It’s expected that there’s good reason to feel sorry for poor old Tom Schwarz (24-0, 16 KO), a 24-year-old German. Schwarz is a big guy at 6’5”, usually weighs about 240, and is unbeaten, but he’s got nothing on his record yet, either. He’s going from facing Christian Lewandowski and Kristijan Krstacic in Dessau and Magdeburg to Tyson Fury in Las Vegas.

As for the 30-year-old Fury, Top Rank hope he can become a major star in the United States, but that may be an uphill battle. He’s big and charismatic and a terrific fighter when he’s on his game, no question, but his in-ring style doesn’t always provide for the most action. He’s a boxer first, using good skills, above average hand speed, and the awkwardness that comes with being 6’9” to his advantage.

Fury isn’t going to let anything pressure him into changing, though, as his goal is simply to win fights.

“I’m not looking to do anything different than I always do,” he says. “The main thing for me is winning. That’s what it’s about. I’m undefeated in 11 years as a professional, so it’s not bad going. So far, so good.”