Tyson Fury’s assistant coach (and second cousin) Andy Lee argued that Fury’s lack of sparring before his first fight with Oleksandr Usyk contributed to his demise in May.
“People seem to forget that there was this ten million dollar bounty put on Tyson’s eye,” Lee reflected in a featurette on DAZN’s YouTube channel. The first Usyk-Fury fight had been scheduled for December 2023, which became February 2024 after Fury struggled with Francis Ngannou more than expected in their farcical crossover bout. Then Fury picked up a nasty cut in sparring, pushing the Usyk fight to May. Fed up with waiting, boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh threatened both men with a $10 million pay cut in the event of further delays.
“That was really taken into consideration,” Lee said. “And because he had a cut, he wasn’t able to spar or prepare in the way he should have. And that affected him in the fight.”
Lee proceeded to highlight Fury’s successes and shortcomings in the first fight. “It wasn’t a good performance by him,” Lee said, after pointing out his potential bias as a member of Team Fury. But he also correctly observed that Fury was dominant in rounds three through six, and aside from the ninth, competitive in the late rounds.
“To win the rematch, Tyson will have to be fitter – which he will be,” Lee said. “Have better conditioning, which he will have…a fitter Tyson will be able to take his moments, and then stay there and continue to engage, and sustain the attacks.”
And, prophetically, Lee stressed the need for Fury to come in heavier. “I think he’ll be heavier in the rematch. More dominant in the rematch. Look to impose his size a lot more in the rematch.” Fury weighing in at 281lbs suggests that he is thinking along similar lines.
Lee, an eloquent speaker and former fighter – who had a penchant for scoring sudden knockouts from unlikely positions – made a convincing case for Fury to perform better in the rematch.
However, questions remain, like what version of Fury Lee is using as the standard for his supposedly disappointing performance against Usyk in May. In his last four fights, Fury lost narrowly to the Ukrainian, won narrowly but looked abysmal against Francis Ngannou, and destroyed Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte, neither of whom could muster much resistance. You could actually argue that with the level of opposition in mind, despite the loss, Fury performed better against Usyk than he had against any other opponent in some time.
Whether Fury can sustain the frenetic pace at which Usyk fights with nearly 20lbs extra on his frame is also unclear. Answers will emerge before much longer.
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