By Scott Gilfoid: Tyson Fury’s coach SugarHill Steward complains his fighter won’t have much time to prepare for the undisputed heavyweight clash against IBF, WBA & WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk if it’s to occur on April 29th, as the promoters for the event have talked about.
Without SugarHill having the time to needed to work Fury’s pear-shaped physique into a state of readiness, he’s likely going to focus more on things he’s been teaching him by having him holding & leaning, hoping this tactic will work against Usyk.
Sure, it’s simple stuff that any coach can teach, but what else can SugarHill do with the abbreviated six weeks of training camp? It’s asking a lot of SugarHill get ready for an athletic heavyweight like Usyk because his huge grizzly bear-like physique isn’t going to work against that type of fighter.
Fury needs heavyweights that stand in one place all night so he can utilize his 270+ lb weight, and he can’t do that against a mobile fighter like Usyk, who will be like a guy with a long-range sniper rifle, picking him off with pinpoint shots to the head and his ample midsection. Usyk has already said he plans to target Fury’s belly, which could be the area that makes him heel.
Does Fury have enough time train for Usyk?
The Fury vs. Usyk fight still hasn’t been announced, and it’s not a given that it will happen on April 29th. If it does get moved back, Fury will need to move off his demand for a 70-30 split and head south to the 50-50 split that Usyk wanted.
But on the bright side, at least Fury would have more time to train for Usyk’s highly athletic style, because he’s not going to stand there like a lump and let Tyson grab him & lean like he’s been doing to his opponents for the last two years.
“If he feels he can get ready for April 29 and fight Usyk, then he’ll just have to train extra hard for that,” said SugarHill Steward to Sky Sports News about Tyson Fury needing to prepare for the Oleksandr Usyk fight on April 29th rapidly.
“It’s a short bit of time, but I believe Tyson has the ability and the physical attributes to handle the situation.”
“The gameplan is always a knockout. It’s not just one game plan ever. It’s seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13. We’re only doing 12 rounds, but you’ve always got an extra one in the bag,” said SugarHill.
SugarHill, who has transformed Fury’s mobile boxing style into a mauler-type of heavyweight, admits that he’s going to need to accelerate his training for the Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) contest if it’s going to go ahead on April 29th at the Wembley Arena in London, England.
It’s going to be really difficult for SugarHill to prepare Fury for Usyk because he’s put so much time & effort into turning him into a mauler type of heavyweight that it could be impossible to return him to what he was before.
You’re asking SugarHill to bring youth back to the 34-year-old Fury, who is arguably closer to 40 physically, and it’s scientifically not possible to reverse aging.
With each day, Fury looks more like his 58-year-old dad, John Fury, he’s not going to be able to restore youth and vitality and bring the long-lost spring to Tyson’s step.
The hardest part that Fury might have is to get in shape and then figure out how to deal with a much faster, more mobile Usyk, who is totally unlike any of the stationary fighters that Tyson has fought during his 15-year professional career.
The only fighter Fury has faced before that is slightly similar to Usyk is Steve Cunningham, but even that guy was the polar opposite.