Oleksandr Usyk knows he can hurt the goliath Tyson Fury, and that will next make it impossible for the former WBC heavyweight champion to fight the way he needs to in order to win in their rematch on December 21 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh .
The Hitman’s Intent
Usyk won their previous fight on May 18 with a 12-round split decision, but this time he wants to knock him out, and his whole ‘Hitman’ persona is a message of intent.
Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) said in interviews that he was not happy with the way he fought in his loss to unified heavyweight champion Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs), who passively had his back against the ropes did not fight, showboating, and giveaway rounds.
In the rematch, Fury wants to come forward and attack Usyk with power shots like he did in the early rounds of their first fight. ‘The Gypsy King’ said he wanted to get “Hot” out of round one, back up the smaller man and use his size to score a knockout.
“I come in warm. I can’t wait. December twenty-first, the belts will be mine again,” Fury said on social media. “I’m going to knock him out.”
Fury’s decision to come in heavier for the rematch will make it difficult for him to fight hard after four or five rounds without gassing, as he did in the first fight with Usyk. Carrying around 270+ pounds will be difficult for Fury, and Usyk will make things more difficult for him with the fast pace he sets.
“Usyk fights on the front foot all the time, and that slows Fury down. Fury is not in control. He’s normally in control of battles where he sets the pace,” Ade Oladipo said of his YouTube channeltalks about the rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on December 21.
“It’s not just the pace that caused Tyson Fury so many problems (against Usyk). It was, ‘This guy’s setting a pace, and it’s hard to keep up with the pace.’ That’s what Usyk did. He set a pace, and eventually Fury got a little tired, hands down, and that was it. Usyk will take confidence from the last five or six rounds.”
As their previous fight ended last time, Fury looked devastated, and he was lucky not to be stopped. Usyk figured him out by the eighth round and beat him in the final quarter of the fight to win a 12-round split decision.
The Gypsy King’s fans point out that he always wins his rematches, but the fighters he beat were three guys who are not world class:
– John McDermott
– Derek Chisora
– Deontay Wilder
The Gypsy King’s Decline
Fury’s loss hurt his pride and made him look like an outdated, silly, overrated and spoiled fighter who was never as good as his naive fans thought. Whether you want to agree that Fury is an overrated and spoiled fighter or not, there is no doubt that he is aging.
Physically, the 36-year-old looks almost as old as the 58-year-old Mike Tyson, and he hasn’t fared much better than him. It just goes to show that chronological age means nothing to people. When a person allows themselves to gain weight between fights, as Fury did, it ages them when they have to diet to shed the pounds quickly.
“Usyk is going to come in there, thinking he can hurt Fury because he does hurt fighters he comes in the ring with, but now we know 100% that he can hurt Fury,” Ade said. “It changes quite a lot. You can’t march forward with your hands down, knowing that this guy can knock you out.”
The fact that Usyk can hurt Fury limits a lot of what Tyson can do to turn things around in the rematch because he can’t rely on using pressure to win.
If Fury tries to walk down Usyk, he’s going to run into a lot of shots. In the first fight, Fury was deterred from coming forward by Usyk’s body blows, which is why he retreated to the ropes to protect this big target. With Fury’s midsection even thicker, it’s going to be an inviting target again, and it’s going to force him to fight from the ropes like last time.
“Usyk now knows he can knock Fury out, and Fury knows it too. Tyson Fury does better in rematches. Wilder in the second fight, who would have predicted it? Chisora ​​is not a world class fighter, but the times he fought Chisora ​​in a rematch, he completely outplayed him. So, he is getting better,” Ade said.
Fury-Usyk scores
– Usyk: 114-113
– Anger: 114-113
– Usyk: 115-112
