Tyson Fury sends message to Oleksandr Usyk

Tyson Fury posted a message on Instagram today, telling unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk that he made a “mistake” by not finishing him in their first fight last May. Now, Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) says he will make Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) “feel the wrath” in their rematch in Riyadh on December 21.

The Gypsy King stole his loss, and it must eat away at him, the shame, and he was finally chosen to pipe.

Fury has been mostly quiet since losing to Usyk, who is interpreted by fans to be a fallen monarch. He was taken out of the kingdom and lay low trying to understand what had gone wrong. It’s pretty clear what Fury did wrong.

He spent most of the Usyk fight resting his back against the ropes, using the same strategy he used in his 2015 win against Wladimir Klitschko.

The difference was, Usyk wasn’t afraid to unload on him with artillery, unlike Wladimir, and had his way with the Gypsy King that night. Had Usyk not let his foot off the gas, he would have had an easy knockout in the last three rounds. Fury was there for the taking after beating the tar out of him in round nine.

“You had your chance but couldn’t finish the job! Error. Now you are about to feel the fury of a threat,” Tyson Fury continued Instagramsend a message to Oleksandr Usyk.

“Gypsy King 2024 is coming for you. December 21st is mine🖕🏼me against the world 🌍 incoming 3x heavyweight champion.”

If Fury is going to have a chance in the second fight, he needs to get off his back, lose some weight and get back to the form he had in his second fight with Deontay Wilder in 2020. Only that version of Fury has a chance to defeat Usyk.

The version of Fury who edged past Klitschko in 2015 with a narrow win would be machine-gunned by Usyk. To win the rematch, Fury needs to go on the attack, let his hands go and not be afraid to resort to the old dirty tricks he used on Deontay. He cannot beat a talent like Usyk by fighting under the Marquess of Queensberry’s rules because he is not gifted enough.

“Why would you go there and stand back against Usyk? He’s a little guy. You don’t back up against a little guy. When you stand up against a little guy, you give them confidence. He gave him confidence, so now look what happened,” Roy Jones said talk Sports Boxing about the mistake Tyson Fury made against Oleksandr Usyk in their fight earlier this year on May 18.

The reason Fury backed up against Usyk is twofold:

1. Carrying too much weight
2. Reclaimed the Klitschko game plan

It was foolish of Fury to go into the fight with so much fat around his midsection, but he clearly packed on too much weight after his fight with Francis Ngannou. Even with back-to-back training camps, Fury couldn’t shed enough weight to be mobile.

Retrieving the Klitschko game plan was dumb on Fury’s part because that strategy was never going to work because Usyk wasn’t afraid to throw punches. He wouldn’t respect Fury’s weak power like the gunshy Wladimir did nine years ago. If Fury’s trainer, Sugarhill Steward, is the one who came up with that game plan, he should fire him if he hasn’t given him the boot yet.

“This time the confidence will be much more difficult, because Usyk now knows in his head because in the first fight he didn’t know he could put Fury down. Now he knows he can put Fury down. If he goes out there as his normal, methodical Usyk, who is very smart and very methodical in everything he does, he will beat Fury again,” Jones said.