After a late start of the, somewhat brief, weigh-in ahead of the much-anticipated rematch between Fury vs. Usyk, BetUK asked body language expert Judi James to analyse the heavyweights and provide any insights into how the bout may go on Saturday night.
“This fight comes with an element of panto with claims of bravado, mind-games and acts of posturing to intimidate. But beneath the outer performances their body language cues and tells will be giving a much more effective hint of their authentic states of mind and approach to this re-match”
On Usyk’s body language
“His body language looks congruent and authentic, meaning his mental strength and his concentration plus his lack of fear look real. His ‘state’ hasn’t changed and neither has his weight. He looks immune to any mind-games Fury might pull.
Usyk won the ten-minute stare-off. He was so still and solid I believe he could still be there now in the same pose. This suggests physical and mental resilience and calm purpose that is breath-taking.
His eye-stare looks fixed and focused, making him look silently prepped for the fight. His blink-rate is almost negligible, hinting at a lack of tension or stress and when he does blink it is a hard blink, showing inner anger.
His motivational values are worn on his sleeve and they are powerful. He carried a flag about freeing the Avostal defenders and he uses continuous pointing and crossing himself gesture to show allegiance to god. His dimpled smile when his wife was mentioned showed an extra motivational value.
His responses to Fury make him appear untroubled, unintimidated and unaffected. He looked at Fury with no change of expression and no pantomime grimaces or scowls.
At the weigh-in his body posturing was purely professional, with muscle-flexes and raised fists. His signature pose with his chin raised and a frowning stare suggests focus and fearlessness.
His body is splayed in an act of professional aggressive arousal rather than peacocking.
The man has no body language signs of weakness apart from a couple of subtle tells during the face-off when his mouth seemed to be twitching in what could be a hint of inner anxiety”
But, what about Fury?
“Fury’s complete state-reversal from affable, chatty showman to this sulky, Grizzly-Adams, monosyllabic stage-quitter is so acute that it could be a risky option. The showboating from their last fight could have caused him to lose but some of the grinning and chatting and fun is an integral part of his authentic personality and over-suppressing it like this could be detrimental.
His body language at both the conference and the weigh-in is so subdued that it looks like an over-kill, over-congruent and inauthentic act. His crinkly eye-smiles keep trying to erupt and he seems to be suppressing them physically by running a hand over his beard or face. Suppressing like this takes emotional energy that he should probably be saving for the fight.
He arrived for the weigh-in with his hands stuffed into his pockets, which is a gesture associated with hiding or not wanting to be somewhere. He lurked at the back of the stage and he left the stage before doing an interview.
Posing with Usyk he performed two significant acts: his hands fell into the fig-leaf pose, which is a self-protective barrier in front of the crotch, and his chewing got so extreme we could see the gum. Sports people often chew gum to fight anxiety.
There was no ten-minute stare-off, instead Fury turned then turned back. Usyk’s hand flap in his direction looked dismissive.
A comparison of their body language would place the chance of a win in Usyk’s corner then. Fury seems too busy trying to be something he’s not and it is not intimidating his opponent by doing so, but it could confuse him. It suggests he’s floundering, switching states as an announcement to his fans rather than himself.
But…there was one body language moment that made a Fury win look more promising. At the end of their epic stare-off something seemed to have genuinely snapped in Fury. His face became sweaty and his expression looked fearsome as he yelled at his opponent. If he can tap into that more focused state, with a strong upper-cut he could still pull off a win tomorrow night.”
The weigh in
“Fury’s weight seemed to cause looks of disbelief and shock from the team around him as he stood on the scales. There was the longest pause as they studied the result and Frank Warren went from staring in what looked like surprise to looking up at Fury’s face.
Fury said something and grinned, looking proud of himself but the shriek of surprise from the presenter suggested he might not have been expected to be so heavy. Both boxers remained fully clothed though, so the distribution of the weight wasn’t visible.”
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