Boxing News Hall of Fame writer Graham Houston looks for the best bet in Tyson Fury’s bout with Mariusz Wach.
Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua will be a heavyweight blockbuster — just as long as Tyson and AJ take care of business in their respective bouts this weekend.
Fury is up first, meeting Polish veteran Mariusz Wach in Thailand on Friday.
The bout will not be streamed. Instead, as far as I can tell, it will be filmed for the Fury Family reality-TV series on Netflix.
I’ve seen the bout listed as a 12-rounder and also as a 10-rounder but 10 rounds seems more likely.
Fury has been training in Thailand so you could almost say he's boxing at home. He seems happy and relaxed and although Fury is 37 he looked pretty much as he’s always looked when winning a unanimous decision over the hulking Arslanbek Makhmudov in April.
The movement, the jab, the hand speed and reflexes were all there.
Fury is in shape for the Wach fight, weighing in at 265 lbs, actually 26 lbs lighter than the towering Polish heavyweight and 3 lbs lighter than Fury weighed for the Makhmudov bout.
It’s 19 months since the second of Fury’s two title-fight defeats against Oleksandr Usyk and he wants to be champion again. But the long-delayed match-up against Joshua is the fight that most intrigues the boxing public.
Fury is a massive 1/50 favourite for the bout with Wach. It’s a tune-up, pure and simple.
Wach is 46 years old. He started his career with 27 wins in a row but lately he has been in a trial-horse role.
At one time Wach’s durability was almost legendary. He went 12 rounds with Wladimir Klitschko (Wach’s first defeat) and he would have gone the full 12 rounds against Alexander Povetkin were it not for a cut cheekbone suffered in the last round.
Wach has decent enough fundamentals, even now, but his durability has slowly eroded. He’s been stopped five times. Rising superstar Moses Itauma blasted him out in two rounds, but then that’s what Itauma does to people.
However, Wach has been the 10-round distance in two of his last three bouts. This includes staying the course against the huge and heavy-handed Viktor Vykhryst (aka Victor Faust) in his last boxing match — he did stop three influencer-type opponents in a weird 3 on 1 affair contested under MMA rules last October. (A far cry indeed from competing in a legitimate heavyweight title fight against Wladimir Klitschko.)
Tyson Fury vs Mariusz Wach Tale of the Tape
Tyson Fury | Mariusz Wach | |
Record: | 35-2-1 (24 KO) | 39-13 (20 KOs) |
Age: | 37 | 46 |
Birthplace: | Manchester, England | Krakow, Poland |
Height: | 6′ 9″ / 206cm | 6' 7 1⁄2″ / 202cm |
Stance: | Orthodox | Orthodox |
Last Fight: | Won (UD) vs Arslanbek Makhmudov (Apr 2026) | Loss (UD) vs Viktor Vykhryst (Mar 2026) |
KO%: | 68.57% | 51.28% |
Alias: | The Gypsy King | The Viking |
Tyson Fury vs Mariusz Wach Top Tip
Tyson Fury to win by decision/technical decision @ 5/2
Fury’s going to win. That’s as certain as the sun rising every morning. The only bet to consider is whether Fury stops Wach or whether he outpoints him.
I don’t think Tyson is a mean-spirited individual. With no live-broadcast platform, there’s no incentive for Fury to go out there and destroy Wach.
Far more likely, I believe, that Fury will use this fight as a glorified sparring session, putting on a show by switching stances, dropping his hands, standing in a corner and slipping punches, just giving the onlookers 10 rounds of entertainment.
That, for me, is the most likely scenario here.
At 5/2 odds I think it’s worthwhile putting a sprinkle on the decision proposition.
All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
