Jai Opetaia says he would have liked to see Tyson Fury do more in his loss to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21 in Riyadh. He hoped that former WBC champion Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) would have shown a “different version” of himself in the second fight with Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs), but he could not do it
Fury, 36, was different from the first fight. He was much, much worse and didn’t even seem to try hard to win the fight. It could be that Fury, with his adopted Fagin appearance from the Oliver Twist movie, was afraid of being knocked out. So, he played it safe and didn’t show Fagin’s ruthless and cunning qualities to manipulate his way to victory.
The scores were 116-112 x 3 for Usyk. As in the first fight, Fury refuses to accept his defeat and complains that he deserves the victory. He made a mess of himself at the post-fight press conference, saying: “I believe until the day I die that he won the fight.” It is a shame that his promoters did not muzzle him to close his rush. He looked like a classic example of a poor sport in complete denial. I had it 118-110 for Usyk. It wasn’t even close.
Opetaia’s analysis
“I wanted a different version of Fury. I wanted him to do more, but I suppose it was the same kind of stuff. Usyk is just an animal. He is an animal,” said Jai Opetaia The pounding groundreacts to Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury in their December 21 rematch.
“He’s a **** little bunny. He just doesn’t stop. It’s hard to beat a great fighter like that. You have to take your hat off to Usyk because you can’t fake that stuff. It’s hard work to be able to box like that for 12 rounds. It’s hard work. So, you have to be able to respect that.
“If it happens, it happens. I’m always open to it,” Opetaia said when asked if he would be interested in fighting Usyk if he returns to the cruiserweight division. I would never put down a fight like that. This is a fight I would 100% take with both hands.
There was nothing Fury could do to win the rematch. Which he needed a working time machine to bring back the young 2015 version of himself for the Usyk fight. This old version couldn’t do that.
“At the moment I am focused on the eighth. I have a job to do. Let’s get it done,” Opetaia said of his title defense against #10 IBF ranked contender David Nyika.
