Joey Spencer Says Glove Sliding Technique Common in Detroit
Unfortunately for Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO’s), the glory that he derived from winning the WBC world heavyweight title was short lived.
In the direct aftermath of the unexpected trouncing, the Gypsy King was given some of the highest praise of his career. It was common knowledge that he could box. However, the menacing ferocity that he fought Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KO’s) with during the rematch was something never before seen. Just as his future could not look any brighter, Fury was accused of being an underhanded cheat.
GLOVEGATE IS BORN
Shortly after their second match-up, fans from all over began uploading video footage highlighting Fury suspiciously moving his left glove. For reasons that have yet to be reasonably explained, the Gypsy King’s left glove was flapping around as if his wrist was made of pudding. Once identified, it was shown that this anomaly was present in both bouts with Wilder.
Thus far, Team Fury has not made any official statement on the issue and it appears that they are not going to. That has not stopped the rest of the boxing world from entering into heated and spirited debates on the subject.
As it is with most things, there is a large contingent of individuals who swear that there is nothing suspicious about the matter. And then there are those who can’t be swayed from their belief that Fury was consciously up to no good. Apparently, middleweight prospect Joey Spencer (10-0, 7 KO’s) is of the mind that there was something shady going on.
DIRTY DEEDS DONE IN DETROIT
While supplying an exclusive interview to 78SportsTV, Spencer explained how he’d become familiar with fighters manipulating their gloves in the same fashion that Fury is being accused of.
According to Spencer, while making his bones as an amateur within the Detroit fighting scene, such tactics were common place.
Spencer theorized that since Fury trained in the Kronk Gym, which is based in Detroit, it wouldn’t require a huge leap of the imagination to believe that the Gypsy King could have picked up the tactic there.
“I’m just in a unique situation where I’ve been in gyms here in the Detroit area where I have witnessed coaches teaching and putting their gloves on fighters with a method that is taught to put the glove on looser and keep the fist down toward the wrist area of the glove. So you’re actually hitting with the bare knuckle, not the bare knuckle but more on the wrist area where the padding isn’t.
I just know from personal experience that that is taught. It’s an old school method, I know it’s not the most well-known thing in the game; not saying that other people don’t have great experience with other things. I don’t know if it’s a thing more particular to where I’m from, because Tyson Fury has trained toward the beginning of his pro career here in Detroit, Michigan…I just have the experience to say that wasn’t an accident.”
TAKES MORE THAN A HAND TO MAKE A CHAMP
Even though he feels that Fury was looking for an unfair advantage, Spencer did point out that it took more than the glove to dethrone Wilder.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t think the only reason he won that fight is because his glove was on that way. I think that it was a mixture of a few different things, including a great performance by Fury. I mean he did something we didn’t expect him to do by coming forward the way that he did.”
Outside of the controversy and lively debates amongst boxing fans, it does not look like anything much official will emerge of this gloves issue. Without question, if Wilder and Fury do mix it up for a third time, the scrutiny placed on the gloves will be hard to fathom. Yet it is noteworthy to see how many active and former fighters are chiming in on the ‘something smells foul’ side of things.
By: Bakari Simpson
