Tyson Fury believes he’s got to knockout unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for him to win their rematch on December 21st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Last May, Fury looked old, fat, slow, and over-the-hill in his loss to Usyk. He was nowhere near the fighter he’d been four years earlier when he defeated Deontay Wilder in their rematch in 2020, but then again, he’d never looked that muscular before or since.
That was just a weird situation where Fury’s physique changed for one fight, and he’s returned to looking flabby ever since. Against Usyk, Fury looked ten years older than he’d been four years previous, and he doesn’t look any younger in his recent interviews. That ain’t good going into his rematch because punch resistance may not be there and definitely not his speed,
Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) isn’t coming right out and saying it, but he seems to believe that he was given a raw deal in his 12-round split decision to Usyk earlier this year on May 18th. He says he still thinks he won the fight and ignores the business that went on in the ninth round, where the referee saved him.
This inability for Fury to accept that he failed to perform well against the faster, more agile Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) suggests that he’s not going to make the improvements needed for him to win next time.
One problem that the 36-year-old Fury has is there’s little incentive for him to win because His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has already said that he can still fight Anthony Joshua, even if he loses to Usyk in the rematch.
This means that the rematch with Usyk is just a throwaway and means nothing because Fury still goes to the big AJ fight anyway. If everyone had a cushy setup where they could fail and still get the big payday, it would be great. The whole world would be a bunch of slackers.
“I didn’t think he beat me last time, and I’m damn sure not going to let him beat me this time,” said Tyson Fury to iFL TV about his loss to Oleksandr Usyk earlier this year on May 18th in Riyadh.
I hate to break this to Fury, but Usyk schooled you, and he should have had a knockout in the ninth if not for the referee giving a strange standing eight count. It looked like the referee was helping out Fury in the same way Joshua appeared to be getting a helping hand from the referee who worked his recent match against Daniel Dubois.
“I’ve got to knock him out, and I’ll be training for a good knockout, and I’ll get it like Wilder 2,” said Fury. “I said I was going to knock him out, and I did. I’m going to knock him out this time, and I will. Believe it first. He got the decision over me, and I got to run it back. It makes sense to do the rematch and get my victory back.”
Fury’s chances of knocking out Usyk are slim, and none. This isn’t the no-skilled Deontay Wilder he’s fighting. Usyk actually has the ability, and he’ll easily get out of the way of Fury’s telegraphed punches. The leaning bit that Fury used against Wilder won’t work because Usyk won’t allow him to grab, hold, and lean. Wilder shouldn’t have either, but he was hopeless for that fight and the trilogy.
“I’ve got past the point of really caring. It probably took that decision to wake me up and give me the type of aggression back where I want to smash someone in,” said Fury.
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