Fury vs Schwarz will not bring a repeat of Joshua vs Ruiz

While Anthony Joshua’s plans lay in Andy Ruiz-shaped ruins, it’s Tyson Fury’s chance to grab headlines and he surely must be on red alert to prevent another shock happening in his fight against Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas.

We always knew this was the ‘easiest’ of the three fights for Deontay Wilder, Joshua and Fury: the German is the seventh highest-ranked heavyweight in his own country. But, as the old saying goes, anything can happen with heavyweights.

See the full range of Fury vs Schwarz betting markets

Schwarz and all

Schwarz stands at 6’5” and a bit, so can look Fury straight in the eye. He’s fit, raring to go and can bang. He has 16 stoppages in his 24 wins and is yet to taste defeat. He’s erratic and lacks flow and finesse, but when he starts flailing his fists you certainly wouldn’t want to be caught.

Watching his highlight reel on YouTube shows us how he tends to overpower opponents through the sheer volume of punches in an attack, they don’t all land as I alluded to, but some do and they sting a bit.

His most entertaining fight was with fellow unbeaten German Senad Gashi, who used his head rather too much for Schwarz and the referee’s liking and was eventually disqualified in the sixth round of a fight he was probably winning in April 2018.

The craziness continued after the DQ, when Gashi squared back up to Schwarz and they started going at it again. Everyone got involved and a mini brawl broke out.

The circus is in town

Fury’s opponent was largely an innocent victim in it all, but my point is: he’s used to the circus and he’ll need to be because that is what Fury brings.

We have already seen a light-hearted press conference, fake kisses in the face-off and what has been tantamount to a ‘love-in’.

That’s clearly how Fury wanted it to go, he loves calling the shots in and out of the ring. If he gets his way at the MGM Grand he’ll show off his boxing skills and get a stoppage sometime during the latter rounds.

Schwarz’ job should be to take a leaf out of the new heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz’ book, and throw some caution to the wind among a few big shots. Unsettle Fury and who knows?

On the William Hill Boxing podcast Steve Bunce, who is in Vegas for the BBC and BT Sport, predicted Fury will “tenderise Tom very slowly” before finishing the job off and goes for a Fury win in the second half of the fight at 8/5.

Listen to the William Hill Boxing Podcast to hear more from Buncey and his preview of Josh Warrington versus Kid Galahad.

Tyson Fury is 1/25 to win the fight, Tom Schwarz is 9/1 and the draw is 33/1.