Tyson Fury must find a way to trim down his blubbery body to defeat Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch on December 21st.
Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) was carrying around too much weight in his previous fight against Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) on May 18th, which led to him losing a 12-round split decision in a match he could have won if he’d been trimmer.
The Ideal Fighting Weight
A lean 240+ lb Fury with his skills still present and the mobility that he had when he dethroned Wladimir Klitschko nine years ago would be a nightmare for Usyk. Is it a dream?
Essentials:
- New Trainer: Dump Sugarhill Steward, whose training tactics failed Fury in losing to Usyk last time.
- Strict Diet: No more raiding the kitchen for goodies or going to pubs to wet his whistle.
- Intense training: A six-month boot camp with reveille at 0600 daily, and immediately on the road for chow before beginning intense training. Work on the cardio. Hit the rack at 2100.
I think Fury can be transformed into a gazelle, provided he dumps his trainer, stops eating, and puts in the hard work for the next six months. Fury must be locked away in a special camp where he can’t see the outside world and cannot access the kitchen for goodies or the pubs. To beat Usyk, Fury must be the svelte 240-pounder that beat Wladimir.
There’s more than enough time for the 35-year-old Fury to slim down by December 21st, as long he’s dedicated, works hard, and willing to lay off the food.
Shedding the Saddlebags
The ‘Gypsy King’ Fury weighed 262 lbs for the Usyk fight last May, and it was obvious from looking at the saddlebags around his waist that he was a good 20+ lbs too heavy.
If Fury had come into the fight weighing 242 lbs, he would have had an excellent chance of combating the footwork, speed, and athleticism of the unified champion Usyk. There was no way on earth that Fury could do that with globs of adipose tissue that had accumulated around his midsection. With that kind of excess junk that Fury was carrying, he was weighed down, helpless to fight off the more talented Usyk.
Fury, coming in the 260s and 270s, like he’d done in his fights. Deontay Wilder was useless against Usyk because he wouldn’t let him use the weight to lean on him as he’d done repeatedly against the Bronze Bomber.
Trainer Sugarhill Steward’s main contribution to Fury’s game is helping him lean on his opponents, and this simple tactic wouldn’t work against Usyk. Fury should have figured that out on his own before the Usyk fight, fired Sugarhill, and replaced him with a good trainer who could teach him true skills that could have been useful.
Any trainer worth his salt would have looked at Fury’s physique and immediately put him on a diet of bread and water and a treadmill to trim him down to 240s for the Usyk fight.
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