Fury survives knockdown to take step closer to world title shot

Tyson Fury survived an early visit to the canvas on his US debut to edge a step closer to a world title shot with a 7th round KO of Steve “USS” Cunningham at the Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York on Saturday night.

The Irish heavyweight champion remained true to his vow to “spark out” Cunningham, but the giant 6ft 9in Manchester-born orthodox had to get off the floor before claiming an inside the distance win.

Fury, 24, almost paid the ultimate price for dropping his hands, exposing his chin and taunting 36-year-old Cunningham to “come on” in the early exchanges.

Cunningham, an ex-world cruiserweight champion, obliged and dropped Fury with an overhand right in the second. Fury was also docked a point by referee Eddie Cotton for leading with his head in the 5th.

The Irishman was also behind on points before he KO’d the American with a right to the head five seconds from the bell to end the 7th.

Saturday’s KO in the IBF eliminator for the No.2 position improves undefeated Fury to 21 wins (15 KOs). Unbeaten Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev, the No. 1, now awaits ahead of a shot at Wladimir Klitschko for the world title. However, it is possible that Pulev will meet Klitschko first and Fury will get a tilt at the winner.

Fury’s win was far from convincing, but the Irish champion, who serenaded the MSG crowd with a version of Ricky Van Shelton’s “Keep it Between the Lines” from inside the ring after his victory, was looking at the positives.

“I’m not a judge, so I couldn’t tell you how the fight was going. But I can tell you how the fight was going in my mind. I was just hunting him down, like a lion on a deer. And he was running away and I was hunting him down and bang, struck, caught, good night, he said.

“This kid was running around the ring and when I caught him it was curtains “A good big one will always beat a good little one.”

Indeed, except that being merely good may not be good enough for an appointment with Ukrainian kingpin Wladimir “Dr Steehammer” Klitschko! Fury’s cousin, Hughie Fury, stopped Alex Rozman in the first round on the MSG undercard.