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With his showdown with Jake Paul less than a month away, we take a look back at Tommy Fury's career inside the squared circle.
The first time stepping in the ring as a professional is generally used as an opportunity to gain some experience against an opponent of a significantly lower level, and Fury's was no different.
Aged just 19 and with fewer than 20 amateur contests under his belt, Fury faced off against Latvian journeyman Jevgenijs Andrejevs on the undercard of the Josh Warrington vs Carl Frampton fight in December 2018.
Despite being at a massive experience disadvantage, Fury started his professional career confidently, working behind his jab and soundly outpointing his overmatched opponent without ever really looking like he was going to get the finish.
Fury did do some solid work to the body of his opponent, however, with the referee ultimately ruling that Fury had won each of the contest's four-rounds to take home his first victory as in the professional ranks.
In his sophomore effort as a professional, Fury faced off against another journeyman, Englishman Callum Ide, who had been unable to get his hand raised in his 28 fight career. Despite this, Ide had only been stopped three times inside the distance and would provide Fury with some much-needed in-ring experience if nothing else.
Unlike in his debut, Fury was significantly more active against Ide in the early going, immediately putting his opponent on the back foot and rushing the journeyman into the corner with a flurry of strikes.
With less than one minute having passed since the sound of the opening bell, Fury landed a clean right hand to the body of the retreating Ide that forced the unfavoured fighter to a knee. Ide ultimately would beat the referee's count, rising to his feet but Fury immediately continued his onslaught, landing a right hand to the body that sent Ide to the canvas for the second time.
This time Ide would not return to his feet and Fury would earn his first win inside this distance whilst demonstrating a finishing instinct that had been absent in his first professional bout.
After defeating Ide, Fury would pick up another victory against Polish journeyman Przemyslaw Binienda appearing on the fifth series of ITV's Love Island, ultimately finishing second alongside influencer Molly-Mae Hague.
Despite his newfound reality TV fame, Fury vowed to continue his career inside the ring and returned after a nearly year-long hiatus to face winless Lithuanian, Genadij Krajevskij, in a bout televised live on BT Sport.
Fury charged out of the blocks after the opening bell, attacking at an almost frantic pace. Unlike Fury's opponents up to this point, the 32-year-old Krajevskij clearly came to fight, responding with punches of his own in the early going, even putting Fury on the back foot at times.
The gap in quality was evident almost from the outset, however, with Fury landing the more effective strikes as the two traded punches in the first frame.
In the second round, Fury seemed to settle into the fight more, landing his jab and picking Krajevskij apart with combinations from distance whilst hunting for a right hook to the body.
Fury continued to improve as the second round went on before landing a multi-punch combination that floored the Lithuanian bringing an end to the fight in the most impressive performance of his career to that point.
Fury returned to the ring after the impressive performance against Krajevskij to pick up another stoppage win, this time against Brit Scott Williams (0-9-0).
The performance seemed to demonstrate that Fury was ready to take on tougher opposition, and he would get his opportunity against undefeated Scotsman Jordan Grant in June of 2021.
Entering the ring for his sixth contest as a professional, Fury opened as a large betting favourite against a fighter who unlike previous opponents was clearly not just in the fight to make up the numbers.
Grant was aggressive from the outset, forcing Fury to fight whilst moving backwards. Despite this, Fury landed the better shots in the opening round on his oncoming opponent.
Fury appeared to grow in confidence as the fight wore on, establishing his jab and occasionally landing with the right hand. True to his reputation as the first challenge for Fury, Grant responded well throughout the contest despite often finding himself on the losing end of exchanges.
At the final bell, the referee ruled that Fury had won all four rounds, though Grant had provided by far the toughest test of Fury's career to date.
After defeating Grant, Fury returned to the ring for the biggest fight of his career to that point, facing off against MMA fighter Anthony Taylor in the co-main event of Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley in front of a sold-out crowd of over 20,000 fans.
A training partner of Paul, Taylor seemed a strange choice of opponent given his relative boxing inexperience and the fact that he had fought in a weight class as low as bantamweight during his time in MMA meant he was at a significant size disadvantage against the light-heavyweight Fury.
Despite the size advantage, Fury seemed to have some difficulty with the awkward style of the American who repeatedly entered into clinches looking to land shots on the inside.
Fury continued to find his rhythm as Taylor continued to relentlessly press forward, landing good straight punches against an opponent who clearly was struggling to create openings for his overhand right.
The finish would continue to elude Fury as Taylor managed to reach the final round without ever really troubling the Brit. Fury's performance was assured though, and in getting his hand raised he set the groundwork for the showdown with Paul.
Though his reputation as a boxer is preceded by his antics outside the ring, Jake Paul will likely be the biggest test of Fury's professional career. When the two undefeated fighters face-off over 8 rounds on December 18th fireworks will ensue.
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