There are questions about whether Tyson Fury can realistically win a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21. Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) is getting a second chance after losing to Usyk via a 12-round split decision earlier this year on May 18.
Fury was full of excuses after that loss, and clearly didn’t want to take the high road by showing class by praising Usyk.
Answer from Tyson:
– Being empty
– Humility
– Judges bias: Giving Usyk the win because of the fight
It is said that Fury has corrected the mistakes he made in the first fight and will come up with a better game plan to defeat Syk. However, this does not make sense because he is not young enough or physically equipped to do this job.
Can Fury Win Physically?
He’s 36 years old, looks like he’s in his mid-50s, and his body may not allow him to do the things he needs to do to defeat WBA, WBC, and WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in a fight theirs. chief executive at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
“My question is, physically, does it exist at this age? Sometimes, your mind wants to be there, but your body may not be there,” said Paulie Malignaggi speaking to Probox TV about whether Tyson Fury, 36, can beat Oleksandr Usyk at his age.
“He never lived a good life between wars. So that kind of ages you quickly. Let’s see if he can get his mind right and if he can bring a body part to the ring at this age. In the first half of the battle, Fury did a great job.
“Usyk’s answer was just a matter of time because he kept putting that mental pressure, crossing the ring. It was bound to force an error at some point. Fury didn’t take advantage of the opportunity by supporting Usyk. He allowed Usyk to continue to support him, cut him off, and make him feel difficult and pressure despite the fact that Fury was punching well,” said Malignaggi.
Fury tends to let his weight get out of control between fights and has to shed pounds in camp. Nothing has changed in that regard. Fury has gained a ton of weight since his last fight with Usyk on May 18th, and he STILL hasn’t dropped any pounds.
With one month left before the rematch, Fury looks 25 pounds overweight. That’s not good, but it gives an excuse if he loses again. He can deceive himself and society by blaming the loss on obesity. By having Fury blame his weight for his defeat, he can protect his ego. He can try to avoid embarrassment by making excuses that his followers won’t believe.
Fury down[laid his loss last time by chalking it up to a brief lapse of concentration. His trainer, SugarHill Steward, used the same line, saying repeatedly that Fury just “got caught,” as if the loss was just from one punch instead of an entire fight. Fury should have dumped Sugarhill once he heard him talking like that, but he didn’t, and he may be keeping him around to put the blame on him if he loses the rematch.
Usyk was landing shots to the head and body of Fury in every round. All the rounds were closed until the ninth. That’s when Usyk loaded up on a left hand and hurt Fury with a headshot. He had Fury out on his feet, but the referee stopped him from knocking him out.
“He was constantly having to feel that pressure, that mental anguish. Eventually, it translated into an error, and Usyk turned things around. Maybe Fury will be a little bit more physical in this fight,” said Malignaggi.
Usyk stayed close to Fury, using feints and targeting his breadbasket. The punches to the body is what led to Fury retreating to the ropes in the first round after initially having success. Once Fury started taking punches to the midsection, he immediately retreated to the ropes, and started clowning around to hide that he’d been bothered by the shots.
Very few of Fury’s past opponents have attacked him to the body, and that’s allowed him to have more success than he otherwise would have. Wladimir Klitschko, Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and Derek Chisora didn’t throw at Fury’s body.
They were headhunting, and he was able to lean back to avoid getting hit. His body was right there, but those fighters have always been headheaters. So, they didn’t take advantage of his body being wide open the way Usyk did.
“I think Fury could make some adjustments like he did against Wilder where he went from the first to the second fight a boxer on the backfoot to a physical guy on the front foot because he was so much bigger. Usyk is not going to go as quietly as Wilder did,” said Malignaggi.
Wilder fought poorly all three times he faced Fury. He let Fury hold and lean on him without making him pay or shoving him away. Usyk, a much smaller and weaker fighter than Wilder, didn’t allow Fury to hold, and he shoved him away when he tried to grab.
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