Tyson Fury nearly started his American adventure in the worst way possible, when he went toe-to-toe with a much smaller opponent.
Blessed with a sublime boxing IQ and remarkable movement, ‘The Gypsy King’ is often able to bamboozle smaller heavyweights with his enormous size.
Eddie Chambers, for example, cites Fury as the toughest sparring he’s ever had. However, one of ‘Fast’s’ countrymen was able to figure out a way to trouble the 6ft9 giant like nobody ever had before.
In his US debut, the Brit found himself in serious trouble, when a former 2x IBF cruiserweight champion sent him hurtling toward the canvas.
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Steve Cunningham dropped Tyson Fury with a massive shot
On April 20, 2013, Tyson Fury went head-to-head with Steve Cunningham, inside The Theatre at Madison Square Garden, New York, USA.
The bout was aimed to give the trash talker an opportunity to showcase his skills to the American fans. But the plan nearly ended in disaster, as ‘USS’ had other ideas.
Fighting with his hands down, it seemed as if Fury was underestimating his opponent. And Cunningham was more than happy to take advantage.
The Philadelphia boxer landed a truly marvelous overhand right that sent the favorite tumbling toward the canvas.
Fury was in a complete crisis, with his opponent seemingly one shot away from ending the bout.
However, in a testament to his intelligence, the Englishman switched his game plan, abandoning the chess match he was trying to have with his adversary and instead just bullying him with sheer size.
This ultimately worked, with Fury getting the stoppage in the seventh round, after controversially utilizing his elbow, to set up a dynamite right hand that put Cunningham to sleep.
Tyson Fury went down for the first time against an unbeaten star who nailed him with a massive shot
While Cunningham made waves by dropping Fury, it wasn’t the first time the polarizing boxer had hit the canvas.
In his career, the charismatic character has been dropped on eight occasions, getting up on every single occasion, with Oleksandr Usyk being the only man who’s officially managed to beat him.
However, everything he achieved in his career might’ve failed to come to fruition had the ex-world champion not been able to recover the first time he went down.
In a truly dramatic moment, an undefeated brawler nearly finished Fury with a massive punch.