Boxing | Fury changes trainers ahead of Wilder rematch; Crawford unbeaten

Terence Crawford (right) punches Lithuania’s Egidijus Kavaliauskas

Tyson Fury has changed trainers two months before his likely heavyweight rematch with WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

Fury split with Ben Davison after two years and will team up with Javan “Sugar” Hill, the nephew of the late trainer Emmanuel Steward.

Fury, who previously worked with Steward out of the Kronk gym in Detroit, used social media to post a picture of them both — along with Hill and former world champion Andy Lee — with the caption: “Getting the old team back up and running.”

The 31-year-old Fury fought to a draw with Wilder in Los Angeles last December. They are expected to fight again in February, although the bout has not been officially announced.

Davison helped Fury recover from mental health and addiction issues that affected him after beating Wladimir Klitschko to become world heavyweight champion in 2015.

“Tyson and myself had to both make decisions for our careers, which resulted in our working relationship coming to an end,” Davison wrote on Twitter yesterday [Macau time].

On Saturday, Terence Crawford’s latest opponent had not only never been knocked down, but Crawford couldn’t recall seeing him even hurt.

Then again, he’d never been in a ring with a fighter like Crawford before.

Crawford dropped Egidijus Kavaliauskas three times before stopping him in the ninth last weekend night to remain unbeaten and defend his welterweight title at Madison Square Garden.

“I wanted to give the crowd a knockout,” Crawford said. “When I started letting my hands go, I started landing more fatal shots.”

Crawford knocked down the challenger once in the seventh round and twice more in the ninth before referee Ricky Gonzalez stopped it at 44 seconds of the round.

Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) absorbed perhaps more shots than usual but seemed to enjoy getting to show he has power, too, letting out a big smile as Kavaliauskas returned to his corner looking frustrated after one round late in the fight.

“I thought I had to entertain you all for a little bit,” Crawford said. “He’s a strong fighter, durable, and I thought I’d give the crowd something to cheer for.”

Kavaliauskas (21-1-1), a Lithuanian who was the mandatory challenger for Crawford’s WBO belt, had some good moments in the first few rounds before Crawford took control midway through the fight and then poured it on late.

Crawford fought cautiously at the outset and Kavaliauskas showed why there was reason to when he landed a big right early in the third round and then a couple more punches inside as Crawford tried to hold on. Crawford ended up going to a knee but Kavaliauskas wasn’t credited with a knockdown, the referee apparently determining Crawford had been pushed down.

Crawford said afterward he wasn’t hurt by that shot and it wasn’t long before he was the one doing more damage.

Kavaliauskas kept throwing big punches that drove Crawford backward when they landed, but Crawford used his speed advantage to slip out of the way of many of them while landing his own combinations. MDT/AP