The 6’7″ Ustinov came in at a light for him 292.9 lbs., and he looked a lot thinner around his midsection than he has in his past fights. Ustimov typically weighs between 302-305 lbs. It’s kind of surprising to see him so light because he normally has the look of someone that can stand to lose 10-20 pounds.
Tua hasn’t fought in 2 years since his loss to Monte Barrett in August 2011, and he was pretty soundly beaten in that fight. It’s difficult to imagine Tua will be a better fighter coming off of 2 years of inactivity, especially at his age. It just doesn’t seem likely that Tua will do well in this fight unless he can somehow capture some of his lost youth to when he was able to throw speedy combinations that reminded some boxing fans of Mike Tyson.
Tua hasn’t been able to fight like that since 2000, as he’s battled weight problems and long stretches of inactivity. Tua took two years off from 2003-2005, two years off between 2007-2009 and two years off between 2011-2013. That’s six years of inactivity for Tua in the last 10 years. That can’t be a good thing for him.
Tua is probably going to have major problems trying to connect to the head of the 6’7″ Ustinov, so hopefully he has some other ideas in how to get to him because it might not work if he goes head-hunting on Saturday night. Ustinov’s body is always there to be hit, and that might be an area where Tua can target if he’s disciplined enough to forget about head hunting.
Ustinov likes to grab his shorter opponents for clinches when they come in close to prevent them from throwing punches in close, and Tua is going to have to try and keep working if he doesn’t want to have Ustinov foiling his attacks all night with his grabbing and leaning on Tua with his 292 lb. bulk.
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