Trainer Andre Rozier wasn’t pleased with the game plan for Tyson Fury’s loss to Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday.
Training Camp Treats?
He didn’t like the showboating that Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) was during in the early rounds, and he felt it was a mistake for him to be backing up against the smaller man, Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs).
It looked like the 35-year-old Fury wasn’t in the best of shape at 262 lbs despite having the benefit of two training camps to prepare for the fight. The Gypsy King didn’t have the gas tank to take the fight to Usyk.
In hindsight, Fury may have cut corners during his two training camps for the fight because he should have been slimmer and better conditioned than he was last Saturday night.
Had Fury been raiding the refrigerator during camp and loading up on goodies at night? Anyone with the time that Fury had to train would have been trimmed and ready to take the fight to Usyk. It’s hard for people when they put on weight to cut calories and change their eating camp suddenly.
Fury might have had a hole in his stomach, and he did not want to feel the pain of being hungry and weak, the way people are when they’re trying to lose a lot of weight.
Given Fury’s past, he’s probably going to balloon up in weight in the next two months and come into training camp in the 290s with a lot of weight to lose for his rematch with Usyk in October.
When Fury did press the attack on rare occasions, Usyk made him pay with his combination punching, which would back him off. The hand speed advantage Usyk had was troubling Fury, as he’d not been facing anyone with that kind of velocity on their shots since his third fight against Deontay Wilder.
That guy was only throwing single shots at Fury, not the three-punch combinations that Usyk was utilizing.
Showboating: A Fool’s Errand?
“I think Usyk won. I was pulling for Fury, but he didn’t do enough in the 11th and 12th round to pull it off. You know you’re behind. Even if you have an idea, you have to turn up the volume, and he didn’t turn up the volume,” said trainer Andre Rozier to Fighthype, talking about Tyson Fury’s failure to do enough in the last two rounds for him to defeat Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday night.
The 12th round was close, but Usyk still landed more shots and pushed for three full minutes. We’ve heard Fury’s excuses about his supposedly not knowing he was behind in the fight, but that doesn’t hold water. He knew but didn’t have the gas tank or courage to fight hard.
“He was backing up the whole fight, which I didn’t understand, and Usyk uncharacteristically was pressing the whole fight. So, it was a chance of guard, I like what Usyk was doing with that because he kept Fury at bay doing it,” said Rozier.
Fury was backing up because he couldn’t push himself because he was in poor physical condition. We saw how his trunks were up to his ribcage to hide his chunky midsection and limit the target area for Usyk’s punches. Fury looked like he was a good 30 lbs overweight for the fight. If he had taken that 30 lbs off, he would have been a different man, but it would have taken everything out of him to lose that much fat.
Rematch Potential Hinges on Adjustments
“It all depends if Fury goes back to the drawing board and watches went on,” said Rozier on whether Fury can win the rematch. He’s got to know he made those mistakes, playing around in the ring and showboating. It was totally unnecessary.
I don’t think Fury has the drive in his career to torture himself through training camp and work hard enough to give him a chance of winning a rematch with Usyk.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Fury’s fortune is estimated at $140 million. With that kind of money, it’s hard for anybody to work to get in the best possible shape for an athletic competition.
“He should have put more pressure on Usyk. He [Fury] backed up like he was the smaller man, which really got me going. I was like, ‘What was he doing?’” said Rozier.
“Maybe he didn’t do enough to get ready for that. You can’t play games,” said Rozier about Fury.
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