Ben Davison’s reputation as an elite boxing coach is skyrocketing.
Tyson Fury has credited Davison with guiding his remarkable comeback to the pinnacle of boxing’s heavyweight division and the pair appear to be a match made in heaven.
Davison has sacrificed time with his family to be at Fury’s beckoned call in his most recent fight camp, which culminated in a unanimous decision victory over Francesco Pianeta on Saturday night.
Fury won all ten rounds against his unfancied opponent but some fans were surprised that the still-undefeated Brit failed to get the finish, such was his superiority over Pianeta.
But after the bout, ‘The Gypsy King’ admitted that the gameplan was to actively avoid knocking Pianeta out at Windsor Park.
“I could have stood there and traded with him and blasted him but I didn’t need a first-round knockout. I needed rounds and that was always the plan,” Fury said.
"I'd like to see if you could do any better in there against Francesco Pianeta because he'd knock you spark out." https://t.co/BcQgb4IGkg
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) August 22, 2018
Promoter Frank Warren echoed Fury’s thoughts, confirming that it was more important for the 30-year-old to bank rounds than claim a stoppage ahead of his WBC heavyweight title fight against Deontay Wilder.
Warren said: “If he blasted the guy out in a couple of rounds, of course that’s what everyone wants to see – guys knocking each other out and so forth.
“But that is absolute gold dust for him. Going into the next fight, that’s what he needed.
“We talked about it before the fight. I said to him: ‘No messing around, just try to get him out of there if you can.’ And Tyson said that he needed the rounds and that’s exactly right.”
However Fury’s desire to entertain almost resulted in him deviating from the plan because, prior to the final round in Belfast, he asked Davison if he could put Pianeta away.
@Tyson_Fury “shall I take him out now”
“Shall I take him out”
Me: “no” pic.twitter.com/s20JDXaHd7— Ben Davison (@BenDavison_) August 21, 2018
With nine solid rounds under his belt, Fury wanted to give the Belfast crowd the knockout they were hoping for but Davison showed composure beyond his years by instructing his fighter to take the bout the distance.
There were stages in the final round in which Fury actively stepped away from exchanges which could have put Pianeta down and while some fans were left frustrated, Davison had a gameplan and was not going to change it.
Wilder vs. Fury is expected to take place before 2018 is out after the unbeaten heavyweights agreed to a 50-50 purse split.
