Did Fury’s lack of discipline lead to another Usyk loss?

Gareth A. Davies says Tyson Fury’s nutritionist has said he is in “good shape” for his rematch with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21 in Riyadh. Davies claimed Fury’s conditioning was “brilliant”.

Wasted camp

The 281-lb Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) didn’t look in “good shape,” and he certainly didn’t look “brilliant” unless we dramatically lowered the bar for a fighter to meet that criteria. He looked like an outspoken, retired ex-athlete who was taking it easy.

For the last three months, Tyson has looked like someone sitting on the couch eating cakes and pies. He looked like he was carrying about 30 pounds of excess fat that shouldn’t have been there around his waist. It is a discipline problem.

For the ‘Gypsy King’ to come through a three-month training camp looking like this suggests these things:

• Didn’t work hard
• Cut corners
• Eat too much
• Not enough cardio

For this important fight, Fury should not have been overweight 247 poundsthe weight he came in for his historic victory over Wladimir Klitschko on Nov. 28, 2015. Fury has never weighed in the 240s since that clash, and he hasn’t fared that well in any of his fights in the past nine years.

Lack of discipline

It tells you that Fury lacks discipline because he should have been able to cut down to the mid 240s if he worked hard and controlled his eating habits. Call it laziness, but he didn’t push himself to take the weight off. That’s why he’s been beaten twice by Usyk and will probably lose to Anthony Joshua if that fight happens next.

“Anger is improved, but so was Usyk. His conditioning for a 20-stone man was brilliant,” said Gareth A. Davies Boxing King Media on Tyson Fury’s physical condition for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21.

“I spoke to his (Fury) nutritionist and they said he’s in good shape and had a great camp. He showed it in battle. Usyk was a little smarter. There were times when Fury, the giant, tried to hit this smaller guy, and he was in and out and landed just before going out in those clinches in the last third of the fight.

“It was a close battle, it was definitely a close battle. It was very physical, an intriguing contest. It wasn’t an exciting one-minute fight, but it was so intriguing. It was a grueling battle for both men. They’ve been through 24 grueling rounds together,” Gareth said of Fury and Usyk.

The last two fights between Fury and Usyk were not grueling encounters. Usyk worked over Tyson in the ninth round of their first contest on May 18, but that was the only action-packed round of the 24 rounds they fought where many punches landed. Their two fights were chess matches, not grueling fights.

Fury did NOT improve. I don’t know what Gareth is talking about. He has steadily gotten worse and seems unable to defeat any top heavyweights. Usyk is a good fighter, but some guys in the top 15 would have beaten him in his last two fights. He beat Fury and Anthony Joshua because neither of them are elite or at A level. During their prime they were overrated, but now they are even worse.

“There is an obvious fight for Fury (Anthony Joshua) next, but not for Usyk. The obvious fight for Fury is Joshua, but for Usyk, does he fight Daniel Dubois again if he defeats Parker? Does he fight Parker if he defeats Dubois on February 22 and regains the undisputed title? That seems to be the obvious route, but beyond that, what else is there for him (Usyk)?” said Gareth.

Usyk will likely face the winner of the Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker fight fight. Eddie Hearn is pushing for Usyk to fight cruiserweight Jai Opetaia, but that probably won’t happen. Opetaia is a non-name for casual boxing fans, and this is not a fight that will do well. If Turki Al-Shiekh wants to fund a fight between these two, that would be great, but other than that, Usyk is better off fighting the Dubois-Parker winner to reclaim his undisputed championship.