The official ‘Ring of Fire’ poster is out for next month’s heavyweight showdown between WBC champion Tyson Fury and IBF/WBA/WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk for their February 17th undisputed championship at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The 35-year-old Fury and 37-year-old Usyk are dressed up in cowboy outfits, looking a little aged around the gills, and perfect as extras for an old John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movie.
This poster is excellent, but let’s hope that the Fury-Usyk fight lives up to the hype around the contest because this could turn into a mauling type of affair with a lot of grappling on Fury’s side, with the referee having to pull him off of Usyk to keep the fight from being stalled out.
The promotion could be a difficult one if Usyk fails to speak when Fury is talking trash to him. When the two met for their kickoff press conference, it was uncomfortable to watch Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) verbally blasting a mute Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), and it wasn’t a fair fight.
Usyk will need to have someone speak for him at the press conferences if he’s going to be silent.
If they hire Evins Tobler, the guy who did the talking for former WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis for his fight with Devin Haney last December, that would be ideal. Tobler would talk circles around Fury, making him look simpleminded.
Will Punches Be Landed?
“If we judge people on their last performance, and there’s nothing wrong with that, look at Anthony Joshua in what he did against Otto Wallin; I just think it’s going to be a real cagy affair between Fury and Usyk,” said Gareth A. Davies to Boxing News about their fight on February 17th.
Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk latest official ‘Ring of Fire’ fight poster ahead of Feb 17th… pic.twitter.com/hCiG2IB7lj
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 14, 2024
“Not a lot of punches landed; they both know their way around the ring. They both know about fight management. There will be question marks. ‘Is Fury getting old? What did the Wilder fights take out of him? What he didn’t look like against Francis Ngannou.'”
It may be difficult for punches to be landed in the Fury-Usyk contest if Fury is going to be using the same mauling that he utilized in his recent match against Francis Ngannou last October.
If Fury fights in a similar way against Usyk, there could be just an odd punch thrown here and there when the two are separated. The referee needs to take points off from Fury if he’s just going to maul all night and become an oversized Sea Lamprey out of the water, trying to drain the life energy out of Usyk, as he did against Deontay Wilder, Dereck Chisora, and Dillian Whyte. Fury tried that approach against Ngannou, but he was too powerful and fought him off.
It’s a good thing the fight is taking place in Saudi Arabia because if this were a Stateside contest or in the UK, the fans would boo the aging heavyweights, Fury & Usyk, out of the ring if they’re going be grappling all night.
You can’t blame Usyk if the contest resembles an MMA Greco-Roman wrestling contest, as that’s Fury’s fighting style, and it is utterly boring and impossible to watch.
Fury-Usyk Will Be Cagey Affair
“He’s [Fury] over there already training—six weeks in Saudi Arabia. Usyk is an extraordinary character,” said Gareth. “Fury is incredible. Incredible narrative arcs in their lives. I just think it’s going to be a cagy affair with not much landed, and I reckon we’re in for a controversial draw,” Gareth continued.
“I think it’ll be controversial because you’ll get the people that like Usyk. Someone can win on the eye test, but they often don’t win on the cards. I just think it’ll be tight and controversial, and I think it’ll take until the second fight to define who is the undisputed champion of the world.
“One could get knocked out. It’s heavyweight boxing. I lean slightly towards Fury,” said Gareth.
