An emaciated looking Tyson Fury, sporting two shiners under his eyes, claimed it’s his “destiny” to defeat Oleksandr Usyk to become undisputed heavyweight champion on Saturday night in their headliner in Riyadh.
Fury’s talk of destiny has a Kambosos-esque feel to it, and you have to wonder if heading in the same direction as that boaster.
Weight Loss Concerns
Like always, Fury’s confidence is through the roof, but he may be fighting a battle he can’t win, especially with him looking atrophied from weight loss and obviously calorie restriction to rapidly lose weight.
Fury has the appearance of a person who had gone through two military boot camps after being too heavy to make it through the first and needing another one to drop the weight to graduate with the platoon.
He’s been dealing with caloric restriction, subsisting on half-rations to lose weight, which could bite him in the backside on Saturday night when he goes against Usyk, who will be at full strength, bigger and stronger than he’s ever been.
Fury’s Claims of Undisputed Status
During an interview today, Fury claimed he’s still an undisputed champion, which he never was, but he said it anyway. He says he still holds the three belts that he won off Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, even though he vacated them in 2016 due to many problems.
The reality is that Fury holds the WBC belt he got off Deontay Wilder, and he’s quite fortunate to have that title if you saw the third fight between them with the slow count. If anything, Fury should be belt-less now because he clearly lost the third fight with Wilder if the referee had counted faster when he was down for a nine count.
The Destiny Narrative: A Kambosos-Esque Echo
“I believe it’s my destiny to win on Saturday night and win all the belts,” said Tyson Fury to Boxing Social during today’s grand arrivals in Riyadh for his fight against Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night.
“He’s no mug. I’ve prepared as if I fought King Kong. All these belts I’ve ever had, I never lost in the ring. That’s a fact. They’re all my belts anyway, and I believe you can only lose a belt when you’re in the ring.
“As far as I’m concerned when I beat Klitschko in 2015, I became undisputed champion, and I haven’t lost ever since. So, I am undisputed. Until someone beats me, they can never become undisputed because I’m already that. I beat the WBC off Wilder and I won all the other belts [IBF, WBA & WBO] off Klitschko.
“Tune in on Saturday night and watch me become undisputed,” said Fury.
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