Naseem Hamed, former featherweight champion, says Tyson Fury must hurt unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk early with hard punches in their rematch on December 21st to get the victory.
Hamed wants to see the former WBC champion Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) control the fight from the center of the ring, throwing hard punches, using his jab and uppercut to dominate Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Is Hamed’s Strategy Realistic for Fury?
Unfortunately, the things that Hamed wants the soon-to-be 36-year-old Fury to do are out of his range of capabilities. He’s not young enough to fight in the center of the ring, and he’s never had power, even during his best years.
Fury is too old, slow, fat around the waistline, and weak to execute Hamed’s strategy. Staying in the center of the ring is physically impossible for Fury at his age. That would require youth and have abandoned him years ago.
Fury can throw uppercuts, but he telegraphs the shots, and Usyk will easily avoid them. In their previous fight on May 18th, Fury nailed Usyk with a good uppercut that buzzed him, but after that, he couldn’t hit him with the same punch because the talented Ukrainian adapted.
Questionable Feasibility
In the rematch, unless Fury can knock him out with the first uppercut he lands, he won’t be able to hit him with the same punch.
“He’s got to come out, keep him on his jab, and control the fight at the center of the ring,” said Naseem Hamed to Secondsout about what Tyson Fury must do to defeat WBA/WBC/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch on December 21st.
Fury’s jab is too weak and slow to control Usyk with it. His jab is like a wet noodle, powerless with no snap on it, and only serves the purpose of being used as a ‘keep away’ type of punch. The Gypsy King’s jab has always been weak and useless, not a weapon at all except against the mostly low-level fighters he’s faced during his career.
The Importance of Adaptation
“He’s got to hit him with those uppercuts that he was hitting him with, and he’s got to hit him hard and make sure he hurts him in the early rounds, and that’s how he wins,” Hamed said about Fury.
Fury can’t land uppercuts, and he can’t follow Hamed’s advice to hit him hard due to his lack of power. Fury can only try to grab Usyk each time he gets close and just maul the life out of him, draining him as he did against Deontay Wilder.
Fury’s mauling strategy only worked against Wilder, and he’s been unable to use that in any of his fights since. Interestingly, Fury has tried because he should have devised new tactics rather than recycling the game plan designed to beat the thin 220+ lb spindly-legged Wilder. Is that all Fury’s trainer, SugarHill Steward, could contribute to his game?
“I don’t think it was anything to do with his showboating,” said Hamed when asked if Fury’s loss to Usyk could be attributed to the showboating he was doing early in the contest on May 18th. “People need to realize that it was a close fight.”
Fury looked pathetic showboating in the early rounds against Usyk. He perched against the ropes, resembling a big bird, and landed nothing to impress the fans or intimidate his opponent.
“That ninth round was what it was. For me, I’m amazed it went past the ninth round,” said Hamed about the round that Fury was badly hurt by Usyk and saved from being knocked out by the referee, who inexplicably gave Tyson a knockout-saving standing eight count just as he was on the verge of being finished off.
“Even though Tyson went through that, he still found it within himself to finish the fight on his feet.”
The fight should have been stopped in the ninth round when Fury was hurt by Usyk, bouncing from one rope to another and ready to be pulled off. Rather than a standing eight count given to Fury, the referee should have either waved it or allowed Usyk to finish the job with a final headshot. Fury was literally one punch away from going down. Had he gotten back, he would have been immediately knocked out by Usyk.
“Why don’t they talk about any of his victories and what he did to Wilder before anyone did it?” said Hamed about Fury. “Why don’t they talk about nobody being anywhere near him for all those years until Usyk has come up now?”
Fans don’t talk about Fury’s wins before his fight with Usyk because he’d never beaten anyone good. Fury’s best win was against Wladimir Klitschko, who was 39 years old and at the end of his career. You can’t rate that as a good win, and Wilder was overrated and had never beaten anyone of note. His best win came against 40+ Luis Ortiz.
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