By Jake Tiernan: David Allen is giving WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury the edge over IBF/WBA/WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk in the undisputed championship if the two meet next.
After the 36-year-old Usyk’s last performance against Daniel Dubois, Allen sees him at the end of his career, and he says if he were guiding his career, it would be Fury or retirement.
Allen has sparred with both fighters, and he views the 6’9″ Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) as being too big & strong for the 6’3″ Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs).
The body punching that Fury does would be a massive problem for Usyk to overcome in the fight, as we saw how he was wilting from the shots to the midsection from Daniel Dubois last weekend.
Fury is an even better body puncher, and he would focus his attention on that area if he faced Usyk. Allen expects Usyk to be next for Fury after his upcoming fight against Francis Ngannou.
This Saturday night on September 2nd, the 31-year-old Allen (21-5-2, 18 KOs) will face Frazer Clarke (7-0, 5 KOs) on the undeercaard of the Liam Smith vs. Chris Eubank Jr. rematch at the Manchester Arena in Manchester.
“Usyk is there for the beating. Loads of big heavyweights will fancy the job,” said Dave Allen to Boxing UK about his view of IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk being beatable at this stage of his career.
It’s difficult to imagine Usyk beating some of the larger heavyweights like these guys:
Deontay Wilder
Filip Hrgovic
Bakhodir Jalolov
Arslanbek Makhmudov
Zhilei Zhang
Joe Joyce
Could Usyk beat some of them, for sure, but not all of them, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he lost to all of them. Seeing Usyk go down once or twice from body shots against those guys wouldn’t be a shock, either.
“I guess we’ll come back to this conversation after the Ngannou fight, but as it stands, Fury has to be the favorite. He’s bigger, stronger, and a good body puncher. Usyk is a genius, at the very least,” said Allen.
“Usyk wants Fury, and Usyk isn’t getting any younger. He is a naturally smaller man. He’s getting to the end of his tether, to be honest. I think the best Usyk is gone now.”
The best version of Usyk was back when he was fighting at cruiserweight from 2017 to 2019. Usyk hasn’t looked nearly as sharp since moving up to heavyweight in 2019.
“I think he’ll be pushing for the Fury fight. It’s the biggest money, and I think at this point now, there are many heavyweights that will fancy their chances with him,” said Allen about Usyk.
“He’s a naturally smaller guy, and he’s 37 next. If I’m looking after Usyk, I’m saying Fury or nothing at all at this point. He’s got all the money in the world; he’s achieved everything. It’s Fury or nothing for me.
“Tyson isn’t getting any younger. He’s doing Netflix documentaries. He’s got lots of money. He’s fighting Ngannou next,” said Allen about Fury.
