Promoter Frank Warren is amped up for tonight’s heavyweight undisputed championship fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh.
Warren believes the winner of this fight will be the #1 heavyweight on planet Earth, and he’s backing his fighter WBC champion Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) to do business on the unified IBF/WBA/WBO champ Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) in their 12-round contest.
It’s a tough one for me to pick because both fighters looked flawed in their last matches. Usyk dodged a bullet against Daniel Dubois, getting dropped and seemingly knocked out in the fifth round last August. The referee ruled it a low blow, but a lot of fans felt it was legit. Usyk regained his momentum and stopped Dubois in the ninth.
Fury looked his all-time worst in a fight against Francis Ngannou, getting outpunched all night but getting the nod from the judges by a ten-round split decision. If that performance was indicative of the level that Fury is fighting at now at the ripe age of 35, he could lose tonight.
Fury: Past His Prime & Overrated?
The performance from Fury could be a signal of age, as he hasn’t fought a quality heavyweight since his trilogy match against Deontay Wilder in 2021, and that was a vulnerable fighter.
Fury’s fights since then have been against a couple of British guys and then Ngannou. So, it’s been three years now since Fury fought a semi-decent fighter, and it could be that he’s gotten old and was overrated to begin with. Did everyone have it wrong about Fury? Tonight we’ll find out.
Usyk is a small heavyweight, so Fury might be able to impose his size on him and maul his way to victory if he can get his hands on him often enough. But against this level of a fighter, Fury has got to have more in the cupboard besides holding & leaning if he wants to defeat Usyk.
Fury: The Best Heavyweight?
“Tonight, we’re going to see the best heavyweight on planet Earth. I believe in him from the beginning,” said promoter Frank Warren to TNT Sports Boxing, talking about Tyson Fury’s fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
“Tonight, I believe will be his night. I believe he’ll be the superior fighter against the second-best heavyweight in the world, in my opinion, who has got this massive great resume,” Warren said about Usyk.
“For the last four years, he’s been undefeated [at heavyweight]. He beat our own AJ and showed that he can handle big men. So, he’s not phased by it, and Tysons is not phased by it. They’ve had double training camps. This is the best fighting the best. The winner of this will be the best of this generation,” said Warren.
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