Heavyweight great and the last man to hold undisputed status, Lennox Lewis has given his take on the fast approaching four-belt unification showdown between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. And Lewis, a self-proclaimed “pugilist specialist,” told RingTV.com that both Fury and Usyk are in “war mode,” and that we are going to see a great fight.
Lewis is picking Fury to win, just about, but he says Usyk cannot be written off or underestimated. Lennox gives Fury the edge at 60/40, the fight in favour of the “good big ‘un against the good little ‘un.”
“He’s never going to be intimidated,” Lewis said of Usyk, the WBA/IBF/WBO champ. “You’re never going to intimidate an undisputed champion because he knows what it’s like to be that and he loves that position and he doesn’t known No. 2, he only knows No. 1. Usyk has proven his mental abilities to physically go to war while still boxing. Fury and his well-documented mental struggles add to their array of boxing skills. Usyk has been in war mode for a long time and he’s still in war mode. Fury has been in war mode before but he needs more than being the bigger man to win this fight. His mental focus has to be 100 percent from training camp to fight night – no distractions.
“It’s definitely 60/40 in Fury’s favour, you don’t know what type of Fury is going to show up. Don’t take Usyk lightly, though. Don’t think he’s totally out of the fight. Anything can happen, styles make fights and this is why we’re excited about this fight.”
We sure are excited about this one, and we have been excited about it for some time. Right now, all manner of things are being put out there: Fury, the WBC champ, looks “skinny” according to Usyk, or so it’s been reported. Fury has been spotted on crutches, this leading the ‘I’ll believe it when they’re in the ring’ brigade to suggest the fight could still get called off (again!) And we’ve all seen the crazy, shall we say, fun and games John Fury has been getting up to. Add it all up, and we have a truly fascinating fight, and we are just three days away from seeing it go down.
Friday’s weigh-in will also prove very interesting. Is Lennox right, is Fury the slight favourite going into this fight? Or is Fury a bigger favourite? Or do you like Usyk? And will this fight prove to be a great one?
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