By Charles Brun: Oleksandr Usyk says Tyson Fury puts up a false front when he’s in front of the camera, going into an acting mode, playing a “bad guy” but in reality, he’s entirely different. Usyk says he views Fury as totally unlike the villain character that he’s created.
Usyk says WBC heavyweight champion Fury “cries” during movies. In other words, he’s soft and not the tough guy that he uses his dramatic innate acting skills to portray to his boxing fans from the UK.
The way that Fury was on the verge of tears when he clearly lost his first fight against ‘Big’ John McDermott in 2009, gave one a glimpse into what his mind is really like behind that acting persona.
Fury looked like he was about to burst into tears when the fans at the Brentwood Centre collectively booed him after he was given a dubious 98-92 victory in a fight that he deserved a loss against McDermott.
Usyk is a threat to Fury’s gravy train
Of course, the 34-year-old Fury is also trying to intimidate the talented IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) because this is a guy that could derail his career and end his gravy train, which has been steaming the tracks, beating pedestrian level opposition and making big cash.
If Usyk defeats Fury, there will be a rematch, and he could very well beat him a second time, as he did with British fighter Anthony Joshua, putting his career on skidrow, forcing the big lumbering 6’9″ heavyweight to use up a year of his career trying to rebuild, as we see with AJ.
“When there are no cameras, he is completely different. He plays bad guy for the cameras. I think he likes movies about love, and when he watches them, he cries a little,” said Oleksandr Usyk to The Guardian about Tyson Fury. “That’s not a bad thing. When I watch some movies, I shed a tear too.”
Usyk doesn’t point out what’s truly behind Fury’s false front. What we’re talking about here is a textbook bully, a guy that uses his size to intimidate and his acting skills to unnerve his opponents before they enter the ring.
It’s worked against many of the weak-minded fighters he’s fought, but it doesn’t appear to be working against Usyk, who likely has seen that type of playground bully behavior many times while growing up.
“I think I was able to get into his head a little bit. I have been watching Tyson Fury get into the heads of his opponents for many years. And then I got into his head,” said Usyk.
Charles Brun agrees with Usyk. Fury looked off balance mentally when he got into Usyk’s face and was met with a death stare, and he couldn’t handle it and turned his attention almost immediately to a more pliable fighter, Joe Joyce.
