By Jake Tiernan: Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk continued with his callouts of WBC belt holder Tyson Fury on Twitter, posing in front of an oversized hamburger that he was about to eat, telling ‘The Gypsy King,’ “You’re next.”
Unless Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) can change the way he’s been fighting lately, he could be in for a long, long night against the slick southpaw Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), who is much faster on his feet, athletic & better conditioned.
Fury needs to trim down in weight from the 270s to the 250s to have the mobility & cardio required to battle the much more agile Usyk, considering he’s going to be using a great deal of movement.
It would be a mistake on Fury’s part to use the same simple fighting style we’ve seen from him over the last three years, in which he throws a shot and then dives in for a clinch. From there, Fury leans on his opponents with his large frame to tire them out.
That approach won’t work against Usyk because he’s not going to allow Fury to grab & lean like the three heavyweights that he’s fought since 2020.
“Belly, look what I’m eating. Yum-hum. You’re next,” said Oleksandr Usyk on Twitter today, calling out Tyson Fury.
https://twitter.com/usykaa/status/1617578106751168513?s=20&t=6U-BC7PLYP_yEn-t4RTvMQ
Fight of the century
“I’m not getting involved anymore,” said Fury to iFL TV when asked if he’s intentionally being quiet about the negotiating process with Usyk. “Frank Warren gets paid to do it, and my lawyer, so they can do the deal. I’m not getting involved at all because it drives me mad all the back & forward. ‘He wants this, she wants this,’ so I’m not getting involved.
“This fight is the fight of the century. Remember when there was Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier I? They built it as the ‘Fight of the Century.’ Now, Tyson Fury & Oleksandr Usyk for the first heavyweight four-belt holder in history. It’s never been done before.
“This is the four-belt era. It’ll be the first time a heavyweight had four belts to become undisputed in the ‘Fight of the Century’ and two undefeated champions. I’m a two-time world champion, and he’s a two-time world champion at two different weights.
“It’s a very interesting fight. You’ve got a giant versus a normal-sized heavyweight, but you’ve got the slick southpaw against the giant. I can do whatever he can do as good as he can do it.
“I’m not really interested in the undisputed, but you might as well chuck it out there as well to all the accolades. What happens when I’m gone, I don’t give a damn about to be fair,” said Fury.