The rematch between Tyson Fury and unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk will take place on December 21 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, 33 days from now.
Many fans see this as a simple case of Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) doing the job on 36-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Fury (34-1-1 24 KOs) a second time. He will put Fury out of his misery.
Wealth ruined anger
The vast wealth Fury has amassed over the past four years has mellowed him and taken away the hunger and ambition that made him the fighter he once was.
With a net worth of $140 millionFury doesn’t seem like he’s mentally engaged in his work and is just going through the motions at this point for the money. It must be impossible to stay motivated when you’re sitting on a fortune like the one Fury has, and the money keeps rolling in.
You often see him on holidays in beautiful surroundings and enjoying the life of a rich millionaire. He does not live the life of a soldier on the front lines, drinking dirty water from a canteen and eating whatever he can scrape up.
Is this the end for anger?
For Fury to succeed in the rematch, he needs to come forward, apply pressure and not back down against the smaller man as he did in their first fight on May 18. Fury gave the fight away by fighting on the ropes and not attacking Usyk like he did in his two wins over Deontay Wilder.
Losing a second time to Usyk would mark the end of Fury’s career as a serious fighter. Yes, he will still be able to get one or two massive paydays against Anthony Joshua in Riyadh as His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has already said those fights will still happen regardless of the outcome of their next fights.
Daniel Dubois already knocked out Joshua, and he looks like a shot fighter. Again, there’s still plenty of dough for Fury to make against Joshua, regardless of how badly Usyk whips him this time.
Outside the UK, Fury is seen as a fraud, a manufactured fighter who was maneuvered like a chess piece by his promoters to steer him through rough waters and build an undefeated record until he was upset by Usyk last May. Looking at Fury’s resume, filled with tight fights and fights, it’s clear that fans have been misled.
They thought he was better than he actually was, but he was never the fighter they were led to believe. Don’t get me wrong. Fury was still a good British level heavyweight, but not a real world class guy who you could throw in the ring with a tough heavyweight like Martin Bakole and expect him to stay up for long.
Even in that fight, the referee almost saved Fury from a loss and the judges’ scathing score. It should have been a clear 9-3 win for Usyk, but the judges scored it a 12-round split decision.
Scores
114-113 – Usyk
114-113 – Anger
115-112 – Usyk
Some feel that Fury didn’t like the sharp, accurate sniper shots that Usyk nailed him with when he did come forward, so he chose to fight on the ropes and make it difficult for him to land his head shots .
Leaning back against the ropes, Fury got his head as far as possible so Usyk could connect. It wasn’t effective though, as Usyk swarmed Fury, landing punches against his well-stocked breadbasket and then catching him with surprisingly powerful shots to the head.
The Gypsy King doesn’t seem to take his career as seriously as he once did, as we’ve seen in his last few fights against Usyk and Francis Ngannou. Both of those should have been losses for Fury.
Fury vs Usyk 1 Punch Statistics
Oleksandr Usyk – 170 of 407 shots with 42% connect rate
Tyson Fury – 57 of 496 shots for 32% connect rate
months later from Fury vs. Usyk
You can buy the rematch now at https://t.co/W9218J0a3u #Usyk2Fury | #Riyadh Season | December 21, live on DAZN | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/d9IAD5T87j
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) 18 November 2024
