By Charles Brun: Lawrence Okolie says IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk will pop Tyson Fury’s midsection with left hands and move around to win a points decision over him on April 29th if their undisputed fight takes place in a large ring at Wembley Stadium in London.
Okolie states that if WBC champion Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) can get a large ring for the fight, he’ll be able to trap Usyk and “lay on him.”
The size of the ring will likely have been negotiated in Fury’s favor because he’ll use his A-side position to get as small a ring as possible to prevent Usyk from using movement to make an ape out of him.
It won’t be surprising if the ring resembles a phone booth on the night, with the ropes nice & loose for Fury’sbeneift.
Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) will ignore the head completely of the 6’9″ Fury and focus on hitting him to his flabby midsection, which is the perfect target for punches.
As many fighters have discovered, trying to hit Fury to the head is near impossible because he moves it a lot and leans backward, making it challenging to connect cleanly unless one is standing right on top of him.
The belly is there, though, an inviting targeting for smart heavyweights like Usyk to attack at will with his punches. Usyk has already said he will hit Fury in his “belly every time.” Strangely, Fury’s past opponents lacked the ring IQ to attack his body 100% of the time instead of focusing on headhunting.
Even Wladimir Klitschko focused on trying to hit Fury in the head, and it was surprising because he should have made adjustments after the first couple of rounds to go downstairs once he noticed that he was leaning backward with his upper body over the ropes, looking like an Ostrich burying it’s head in the sand.
What Fury can’t protect is his overlarge belly, which is loaded with fat. Fury has the body of a truck driver, and no amount of training in the next six weeks will burn that flab off by April 29th rolls around.
If Fury were smart, he would have begun his training camp in December like Usyk, but he didn’t. He’s been riding high off his stoppage win over 39-year-old journeyman Derek Chisora last December, on cloud nine from that empty victory.
Usyk will work Fury’s body with left hands
“I think Tyson Fury will win by points or by late stoppage just by physicality, as long as they make it a small ring as well,” said Lawrence Okolie to talkSPORT Boxing, predicting a victory WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury over IBF, WBA & WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk.
“I think in a big ring, Usyk will be able to dance and pop left hands to the body. I don’t think he’ll go headhunting at all. He’ll just be popping to the body from round one to round twelve and just moving and trying not to get caught and try to pinch a decision.
“So, I think a nice small ring, Tyson gets a hold of him and lay on him a bit, pushing & pulls, pulls him around, makes it very difficult to get past the eleventh with Tyson. I think Tyson Fury wins that one,” said Okolie.
