By Scott Gilfoid: #4 WBO Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KO’s will reportedly be facing #8 IBF, #9 WBA Alexander Ustinov (29-1, 21 KOs) on Saturday night in the main event at the Phones 4U Arena in Manchester, UK.
According to the Dailymail, the 37-year-old Ustinov has accepted the offer to step in and replace the injured Dereck Chisora on the card. It’s still not official, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this fight falls through.
The 6’7” Ustinov is arguably about as good as Fury, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he whipped him in this fight. Ustinov is like a slower, heavier, and weaker version of Vitali Klitschko. When you take away the power and what little speed that Vitali had and throw on 70 pounds of excess weight, you get Ustinov. Like I said, I think he’ll give Fury a lot of problems if the fight takes place.
Ustinov hasn’t fought since beating David Tua by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in November. Before that, Ustinov beat journeyman Ivica Perkovic by an 8 round decision last year in April. Ustinov was stopped by Kubrat Pulev in the 11th round in September of 2012 in a disappointing loss for him. Pulev basically jabbed Ustinov into submission in the fight. It wasn’t impressive stuff from Pulev, because he showed little else except for his jab. But that’s all he needed to beat Ustinov.
If Ustinov catches Fury with one of his big chopping shots right hands or left hooks, we could see Fury on the canvas. Ustinov has a little bit of power when he puts his full 300 pounds of weight behind his shots.
Interestingly enough, it was Ustinov that Chisora was sparring with when he fractured his left hand last week during his final sparring session. If Fury suffers a similar injury on Saturday, he’ll be easy pickings for Ustinov.
Fury may end up soon losing his boxing license in the UK, as he reportedly is dragging his feet about showing up at a hearing with the British Board of Control to discuss his use of coarse language during last week’s press conference. If Fury doesn’t show up, which he says he’s not going to, he’ll likely lose his boxing license. However, Fury may opt to fight using his license with the Boxing Union of Ireland, as his ancestors are from there.
Whether the BBBofC will stop Fury from fighting in England is unclear. They might not be able to do anything about it. Fury says he already has plans for a vacation during the time that the BBBofC want him to appear in August, and he doesn’t impact those plans.
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