Oleksandr Usyk showed off a clip of him today working on his strength training for his fight against the gargantuan Tyson Fury on February 17th in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) was throwing dumbells in the air, catching them to work on his power. It’s a risky way of training, as there’s the potential of injury throwing dumbells in the air and catching them, but it works for him.
David vs. Goliath 2.0?
The talented 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk is a tremendous step up in class for Fury, who has been kept away from the cutting-edge heavyweights since the best win of his career against Wladimir Klitschko. The best opponent that Fury has fought since Klitschko is Deontay Wilder; as most boxing fans know, he was always just a limited one-trick pony.
Most would agree that the unbeaten IBF, WBA & WBO champion Usyk will need all the strength that he can get to deal with the massive 270+ lb frame of Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs), who will be using his size to shove, lean and rough up his smaller opponent.
Fury’s Shadow of his former self
The 35-year-old Fury’s mauling style has become his modus operandi for winning fights since teaming up with SugarHill Steward, and he’s not physically capable of boxing & moving around the ring like he once did nine years ago during the zenith of his career in 2015.
Age, weight gain, and soft living robbed Fury of his ability to move, and he now depends on his size to maul the opposition that his management digs up for him.
Although Fury is technically 35, you can argue that he’s closer to 50, and his style of using his 270+ lb frame to lean on his opponents it may prove to be a double-edged sword for him. That primitive style only works against the lesser heavyweights that Fury has been padding his record on in the last nine years:
The Gypsy King’s weak opposition since 2015:
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
– Derek Chisora
– Deontay Wilder
– Dillian Whyte
– Francesco Pianeta
– Tom Schwarz
– Sefer Seferi
Fury can’t reverse the aging process that has taken hold of him, and that’s why he could be heading for trouble against Usyk on February 17th. No matter how hard Fury feverishly trains to prepare for this fight, he can’t undo the many years of putting on weight and poor training.
“Fury likes to be the captain of his own ship, and he thinks the whole world revolves around what he says, and for a time, it definitely did,” said Chris Algieri to ProBox TV.
“This fight is going to happen on February 17th. Fury has been quiet because he goes into his spaced-out mode when he goes into his full-focus mode, and that’s when you know he’s preparing very well,” said Paulie Malignaiggi.
