Trainer of champions Robert Garcia has aired his views on the recent debate over Tyson Fury’s corner for the Otto Wallin fight.
Fury was cut in the early stages of the Wallin clash in Las Vegas, with his corner team lead by Ben Davison, believing the gash was caused by a headbutt.
Later in the contest, it was revealed to Davison by ESPN commentators that it was actually ruled a punch.
‘The Gypsy King’ managed to get through until the end to see out a unanimous win. But his performance was blasted by father John back in the UK.
During his stint as BT Box Office pundit for the night, Fury slated Davison and his son despite the victory.
“One word, I’ve never seen him so bad,” Fury told Paul Dempsey. “He looked weight drained. He looked like he left it all in the gym, to be honest with you. From the second round on there was no snap. There was no real movement.
“There was no real thought going into his work. It was just a labored performance. And then the cut happened.
“He’s a lucky man to get the win, to be honest. Very lucky indeed.
“I don’t know how he’s got from the third to the twelfth round (with that cut). The referee Tony Weeks, we had him for the Klitschko fight and he was taking points off Tyson whenever he could.
“I just think he’s a very lucky chap to come out the winner. But that’s not Tyson in there.
“Whatever’s gone wrong in that camp, and it has gone terribly wrong, someone is to blame. He didn’t look like he had the strength from the word off.
“His timing was off, his distance was terrible. He never threw a meaningful shot, really. The only ones he landed were labored shots, hoping to get him out of there.
“That’s my son, but that’s the worst I’ve seen him.”
On Davison, he added: “It’s a circus. If I had my way, the lot would be gone (Ben Davison and co.).
“The lot would be gone. Looking at that there, if he keeps hold of that team, they are going to cost him his career. And I’ll say it live on TV.
“The team being Ben Davison, whoever he’s got around him now. He (Ben) needs to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m not good enough’ and it’s proved it tonight.
“The cutman was the only worthwhile man in that team. Credit to him because how can you fix that? – They (the cutman) saved his life (career-wise).
“It would have been gone (if he was away from home with that cut).”
🔊"I could agree with the dad that maybe he needs more experience in the corner." — @GarciaBoxing on potential improvements/changes to the corner of Tyson Fury@BoxingwithAk @gerrycooney #boxing #FuryWallin 🎙️
👊🥊👊🥊👊🥊 pic.twitter.com/hizswEM1UB
— SiriusXM Boxing (@SiriusXMBoxing) September 21, 2019
EXPERIENCE
Garcia, speaking to Sirius XM and former heavyweight Gerry Cooney in a radio interview, sided with John’s opinion.
“I like to watch the fight to see how the corners work,” Garcia told Sirius XM Fight Nation.
“Me personally – the way the fight was going, I could agree with the dad that maybe he needs more experience in the corner.
“I’m not saying his team is not good or he doesn’t have a good trainer but a lot of the times experience is what is needed in those kind of fights. Especially if there is a big cut.
“There’s different instructions you have to give, there’s rules also. If I’m not mistaken, they were confused about the cut and they thought it was a headbutt. Thinking you will go to the scorecards if they stopped it. They learned later that it was actually a punch.
“So all those things are why the father is probably thinking that they need somebody else with more experience.
DAMAGE
“Us as trainers, we have got to be aware of everything. And believe me, I’ve been in those cases before where one of my fighters gets cut. If he’s ahead on points and the cut is doing some damage, I’ll stop the fight because I’m not going to allow my fighter to get injured more or get another headbutt and make it worse.
“So, it I have to stop the fight I’ll stop it. Especially if I know my fighter is ahead on points. If they are going to go to scorecards, so I’ll stop it because I know we are already winning.
“I’ve done it many times before, but I’ve also been in the case where it was a real punch and we have to fight our ass off to try to win the fight.”
Fury recently had 47 stitches removed from the wound and hopes to be ready for a rematch with Deontay Wilder on February 22nd, 2020.
