British fan favourite Frank Bruno has praised WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for his transition from boxer to puncher.
The 33-year-old Fury 31-0-1 (22) is scheduled to face mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte 28-2 (19) at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday night.
Fury is coming off his second consecutive knockout victory over former world champion Deontay Wilder 42-2-1 (41) in their trilogy bout in October.
“I’ve seen a huge difference in Tyson recently,” Bruno said to the Daily Mail. “He has gone from someone who was tall, gangly and awkward to a fearsome puncher. All in the space of a couple of fights.
“I knew he had those performances in him. Now he’s bulked up to 19-20 stones we’ve seen what he can do to his opponents. Wilder was on the 16-17 stones mark and Tyson dominated him. Only in this division can you get such a huge weight advantage. If you can use it, that sure is useful. If he uses his height (6ft 9in) to get over Whyte and then uses that weight to press down on him, it will be very difficult for Dillian to fight effectively against him.”
Bruno sees the change of gyms and trainers as the key to Fury’s evolving style. Fury is now trained by SugarHill Steward at the Kronk gym in Detroit, the nephew of the legendary Emanuel Steward.
“Being a Kronk fighter meant a lot in my day,” says Bruno. “Whenever any boxers from Britain went up against Kronk fighters they knew they were going in against someone fit, dangerous, on top of his game and hitting very, very hard. That gym is famous for creating tough fighters, hard men who are very difficult to beat.
“It is even trickier for Dillian because he won’t know which Tyson will be coming into the ring this time. He can box orthodox or southpaw. He can go on the front foot or the back foot. He could walk Dillian down and go for the finish. Or he might go back to his old stick and move, knowing that if he doesn’t keep clear of Whyte’s bombs he could be in danger. He has this ability to adapt to whatever is in front of him.
“The size of the crowd won’t worry him. He’s won over loads of fans, turned them on with his charisma. Walking out in an arena or a stadium is a mental thing. In the ring the fight doesn’t change. You have to programme in your head everything you’ve done in training. Not let the crowd, the atmosphere or the surroundings distract you from the job at hand.
“Listen, everyone gets nervous before any fight. Muhammad Ali got nervous. Even Mike Tyson talked about feeling fear going into a fight. You have to put that aside and get on with it.”