By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury is no longer saying that IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk is a middleweight-sized heavyweight to devalue him in the build-up to their expected undisputed match in the first quarter of next year.
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) says the 6’3″ Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) is bigger than boxing great Muhammad Ali and as big as former two-time world champion George Foreman.
The reality is, Usyk is as tall as Ali, but he weighed more than him when he was young. As Ali got older, he got a little heavier in the mid-220s.
The 6’4″ Foreman was taller than Usyk but around the same weight in the physical zenith of his career when he defeated Joe Frazier in 1973. Foreman had bigger arms and a lot more punching power than Usyk. However, Usyk is faster, mobile, and a better boxer than the young Foreman.
It would be a mistake for the 6’9″, 270-lb Fury to overlook the threat that Usyk poses to him because he’s a more athletic fighter, and physically, he’s younger despite being a year older at 35. Fury is a very old 34 and arguably closer to 40.
“Usyk’s about 6ft 3ins and 16 stone. He’s bigger than Muhammad Ali was back in the day. He’s probably the same size as George Foreman. Everybody used to say ‘big’ George Foreman; now they’re saying ‘little tiny’ Usyk at the same weight and size,” said Tyson Fury to talkSPORT’s Michael Benson.
Usyk proved he could defeat a big heavyweight when he beat the 6’6″ Anthony Joshua twice. If Usyk is good enough to defeat Joshua, he can certainly do a job against a slower, weaker, and more one-dimensional Fury.
Ali & Foreman were more entertaining than Fury
Joshua has better skills than Fury and is superior in power and mobility. If you look at Fury’s recent fights, his mobility is gone due to age and the weight that he’s packed on since hiring Sugarhill Steward as his trainer.
You can argue that Fury’s game devolved, becoming crude and simplistic. Before hooking up with Sugarhill, Fury was a boxer-mover, but he’s since reduced his game, turning into a fighter that throws a punch or two & then grabs his opponent and leans on them.
Fury compares unfavorably to Ali and even a young Foreman. Both were more athletic fighters with more facets to their game than Fury and, of course, more entertaining to watch.