It’s widely believed that Tyson Fury, the former WBC heavyweight champion, must take more risks and be more aggressive in his rematch against WBA/WBC/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) fought too passively in the first fight with Usyk on May 18th, hanging on the ropes, showboating, and being outworked by the hard-working Ukrainian talent in a twelve-round split decision defeat in Riyadh.
The Need for a Coaching Overhaul
Although Fury, his team, and loyal fans believe he won that fight, two of the judges who worked the fight and most of the people who watched the encounter did not share that deluded view.
Fury had lost and should have been knocked out in the ninth if not for the referee saving him by giving a strange, oddball standing eight count that made no sense at all. Luckily, that weird call didn’t change the fight’s ultimate result because if it had, there would have been a lot of anger from fans.
Some believe that Fury needs to dump his trainers, SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee to find some good coaches that can work on the flaws in his game. Most would agree that Fury was a better fighter when Peter Fury and Ben Davison trained him. He was more mobile, crafty, and not as easy to hit. He wasn’t clowning around, and getting walloped as often.
SugarHill’s Limitations
SugarHill’s main contribution to Fury’s game, the clinching and leaning bit, has run its course and only worked against Deontay Wilder and the British journeymen Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora.
Seemingly out of ideas, SugarHill is useless to Fury and needs to go in favor of a world-class trainer who can fix his game in time for the Usyk rematch. Fury is mega-rich now and can afford the best trainer money can buy with his tremendous fortune.
SugarHill’s ideas of leaning and roughhouse tactics were helpful in the Wilder fight, but they won’t work against Usyk. He tried them last time, and they were an utter failure.
There’s not an elite-level trainer Fury couldn’t afford now, and he needs to make that move soon because if he loses to Usyk again, it will take away much of the interest in a fight with Anthony Joshua.
It would no longer be for the undisputed, and Fury would look pathetic going into it with a 0-2 record in his last two fights. His Excellency has made it clear that he’ll still go ahead with the Joshua fight, no matter what the outcome is for his match against Usyk, but Tyson has his pride, and it’ll eat him up inside going through with that fight under those conditions.
“SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee are a great combination. There’s a lot of skills, a lot of knowledge, and a lot of diversity in both of those men,” said boxing analyst Gareth A. Davies to Boxing Kingdom on whether Tyson Fury should ditch his current training team and start with a fresh crew for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st.
I don’t see anything meaningful that Lee and Sugarhill added to Fury’s game that any coach could have taught him. How hard is it to show a fighter how to lean, wrestle, and roughouse?
“Tyson Fury has got to go out there and produce a different type of performance against Oleksandr Usyk in December in their rematch. He can beat Oleksandr Usyk. I think Usyk is a marginal favorite going into their second bout.
“He was a veritable winner the first time around by a twelve round [by a twelve round split decision on May 18th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia]. Fury has got the right attitude going into it. He’s got to put it on him and put it on him hard,” said Gareth.
Whether Fury won the twelfth or not is immaterial. He lost the fight to Usyk and should have been knocked out in the ninth. For Fury fans to try and find solace in his loss by saying he should have won the twelfth means nothing. He lost and was well-beaten.
“He’s got to take more risks in the second fight. I still think it’s going to be a close, hard-fought contest. I wouldn’t change the [training] team [for Fury]. But from what Shane was saying, they’re quite happy with Andy Lee and SugarHill Steward,” said Davies.
If Fury sticks with Lee and SugarHill until the bitter end, he must be prepared to lose every fight until retirement because that will happen. Fighting aggressively won’t work against Usyk because he gets lit up each time he goes on the attack. What he needs is mobility.
“I think to change it now is probably not a great thing to do. I thought Tyson won the last round anyway. I scored the last round for Tyson. I don’t agree with all the things he said about Oleksandr Usyk; he’s got an amateur style,” said Davies.
A coaching change is necessary for Fury; he should have done it right away after his loss to Usyk. He should have taken a broom and swept SugarHill and Lee out of the gym. Fury needs new ideas and won’t get them if he keeps his current coaches. As the saying goes, ‘Junk in, junk out.’ He’s getting hit too much now, and he doesn’t have the chin to take the blows, not even against a smaller heavyweight like Usyk.
Fury needs to dump those two coaches, lose 30+ lbs, and work on his movement to get back to what he was when he beat Klitschko in 2015.
Fury’s Attitude
“What I do like is the attitude he’s taking into the second fight. I want him to win. I want to see him against Anthony Joshua. I want to see him against Anthony Joshua for the undisputed title,” said Gareth.
Davies talks about liking Fury’s attitude, but he hasn’t fought since his loss to Usyk, so how would he know? Is he going by Fury’s comments alone? He talked a good game before his fight with Usyk last May, and look what happened?
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