Tyson Fury will be allowed to fight unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk with his long beard on Saturday night. Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) chose not to shave, and he was given the green light to compete with the lumberjack-like beard.
Usyk’s team reportedly complained about the beard and wanted Fury (36) to shave it, but he has no intention of doing so. His reason for the long beard is unclear, but some believe it helps cushion his chin and protects him from getting hurt again by Usyk’s powerful left hand.
Why the beard now?
Fans believe that a large beard provides extra protection against punches to the chin, where Fury was hurt in the first fight. If this is why Fury chose to keep his beard, it gives a glimpse of a desperate man willing to do anything to win.
A clean-shaven Fury was badly rocked in the ninth round by a left from Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in their first fight on May 18 and saved by the referee, who soon gave him a standing eight count . .
“He’s got a beard, and there’s been a lot of fighters over the years who’ve fought with beards, and that’s it,” Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports Boxing.
Fury’s decision to grow a long mountain man beard suggests he is utterly desperate to win, looking for every possible angle to get the W against his former conqueror Usyk on Saturday night. The Gyspy King needs to win for him to get the trilogy match against Usyk that Turki Alalshikh wants to happen.
Is Fury trying to curry favor with Turki by having a beard? I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the Gyspy King’s motives for wearing the beard, along with protection for his chin.
Fury Desperate
There is a lot of money in Fury if he can get the third fight with Oleksandr, in addition to the two likely to happen against Anthony Joshua.
We really don’t know why Fury chose to fight with a beard because he treated the rematch with Usyk differently than his previous fights. He claims he hasn’t spoken to his wife, Paris, in three months since he started his training camp. If true, it suggests that Fury is desperate to win and will go all out to get the win.
Fury looks like he’s gone through an accelerated aging process since his loss, and you can tell the defeat has taken a toll on him mentally. People age in times of stress, and Fury looks like 10 years have passed since his first fight with Oleksandr.
Given how desperate Fury is to win, hopefully he doesn’t resort to hurting Usyk on Saturday night. Current and former fighters have come out of the woodwork to recommend that Fury grab Usyk to help him win.
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