By Charles Brun: Chris Billiam-Smith is leaning in favor of IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to vanquish WBC belt-holder Tyson Fury when they meet in April for the undisputed championship in Saudi Arabia or London, England.
Billiam-Smith points towards the “aura” about the 2012 Olympic gold medalist & former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) that suggests that he’ll conquer the 34-year-old Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) on the night.
The ambiance that the talented Usyk gives off is that of a winner, who is vastly more intelligent than Fury, and will out-smart the 6’9″ goliath, who has become very one-dimensional in his style in the last four years.
Age is creeping in with Fury
To be sure, Fury is beginning to show signs of age, slowing down and becoming 100% mauler.
Sadly, Fury is no longer the twinkle-toed fighter he’d been eight years ago when he upset long-time heavyweight unified champion Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Looking back at that fight, it’s like another person was in the ring with Wladimir because Fury, in his current form, is nothing like the fighter he was 2,900 yesterdays ago.
The years have been unkind to Fury’s game, taking away the mobility, hand speed, versatility, and svelte physique he had back then.
“There’s something about Usyk that makes me 0.0001% lean towards him. Just about his aura. I don’t know what it is, but I’d lean ever so slightly on that side of the fence,” said Chris Billiam-Smith to Pro Boxing Fans, picking Oleksandr Usyk to defeat Tyson Fury when/if the two meet in late April.
Fury needs a time machine
“But Tyson Fury is 6’9”, and he knows how to bully people. So if he can go and impose all those strengths, which people were screaming for AJ to do, bully him, lean on him, tire him out, then I’m sure he’ll win,” said Billiam-Smith.
Fury has gotten away with his ability to “bully” his opponents in the last few fights because he’s not fought anyone with the mobility or the ring IQ to negate his simplistic mauling tactics properly.
Usyk is the kryptonite for Fury’s style of fighting, and there’s not much the big 270+ lb Gypsy King can do about it unless he can transmogrify the 2015 version of himself into the ring on the night to face Oleksandr rather than the current slow, plodding fighter he is today.
