TOM SCHWARZ was chosen as Tyson Fury’s next opponent as his height can help replicate Deontay Wilder.
Fury, 30, meets the little-known German in Las Vegas on Saturday – six months after he drew against The Bronze Bomber.
After the Brit’s new US promoter Bob Arum shelved the Wilder rematch in order for Fury to build his name Stateside 24-0 Schwarz was hand picked as the opponent.
Trainer Ben Davison told Press Association Sport the 6ft 5in frame of Schwarz acts as solid preparation for 6ft 7in Wilder – who is set to rematch Fury next year.
Davison said: “We picked Schwarz because Schwarz is a similar size. Tyson’s style would have had to adjust from somebody tall.
“It’ll change slightly from Wilder because they bring different elements and different styles; going from Schwarz to Andy Ruiz Jr would have been different because of the height factor.
“(Wilder’s) boxing (Luis) Ortiz, who’s an awkward southpaw and nowhere near as fleet-footed as Tyson, so that’s not going to be 100 per cent ideal preparation.
“The fights we wanted (before Schwarz was selected) were Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. I didn’t want Tyson to have to make the adaption from a tall guy to a short guy and back again.”
The Bronze Bomber will defend his WBC title against southpaw Ortiz later in the year, while Fury claims he could box twice more after Saturday in order to enhance his profile in the US before his Wilder rematch.
Promoter Arum claims Schwarz’s WBO No2 ranking was another reason for selecting the German – as he insists “anything can happen” in the fight – two weeks after Andy Ruiz Jr shocked Anthony Joshua.
Arum said: “We looked at the rankings and we sort that with virtually all the organisations Schwarz was a top five guy – top two in the WBO.
“He’s an undefeated fighter, popular in Germany, 24 wins and no defeats and we felt his was the best possible opponent for Tyson Fury.
“One thing we wanted to make sure we weren’t going to match Tyson Fury with a small heavyweight because obviously his goal long-term is to fight Wilder.
“(Fury) is not looking past this fight he’s a very intelligent fighter and he realises in boxing anything can happen.”
