Fans are looking forward to the February 17th undisputed heavyweight championship fight between unbeaten WBC champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) and IBF, WBA & WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Zhang believes that an in-shape Fury will have too much size & flexibility for Usyk to deal with. That may not be the case. The rumors of Fury getting lit up by cruiserweight Jai Opetaia in camp and dropped hard are troubling.
Opetaia being sent home reveals a stark picture of the problems that Fury will have with the smaller, faster, and better-skilled Usyk.
WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhilei Zhang, who some boxing fans believe is the true best fighter in the division, sees the Fury vs. Usyk fight as a matter of which of the two is better trained.
Zhang says that if the 35-year-old Fury fights the same way he did in his last contest against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, he will have many problems against Usyk.
Is Fury Too Old & Set In His Ways?
What’s unclear is if Fury can fight any differently, as he did the same mauling against Ngannou as he’s consistently been doing in his fights for the last five years, and it didn’t work against him because he was too powerful to be leaned on and clubbed during the clinches.
That’s Fury’s style now, and it’s not one that he can change due to his advanced age. Physically, Fury is an old fighter who can’t move like he once did and just uses his size to maul.
That elementary approach only works against non-world-class fighters like Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and Dereck Chisora.
Fury’s fighting style only works on ham and egger-level heavyweights, but it’s not going to be effective against quality talent like Usyk, Zhang, Anthony Joshua, Filip Hrgovic, Joseph Parker, or Martin Bakole.
Training Camp Crucial
“I think it all depends on what kind of training camp they had and what type of preparation both fighters do in their training camps,” said Zhilei Zhang to Pro Boxing Fans when asked who will win the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undisputed heavyweight championship contest on February 17th.
“If Tyson Fury fights the same way and prepares the same way he did for [Francis] Ngannou [last October], I think it’s going to be a long night for Tyson. But if he trains hard and takes care of his life, takes care of his routine, I think he’s got it,” said Zhang.
Fury was a little chunkier than usual for his fight with Ngannou, but that was still him. He fought the same exact way as he had in his previous six fights. That’s how Fury fights everybody, and he does not suddenly change just because he’s fighting Usyk.
In other words, Fury isn’t going to get a new frame and mindset and discover the Fountain of Youth in time to make him a 22-year-old with the slim physique and mobility he once had. It’s too late.
Fury is 35 with the body of a 50-year-old, and he will fight Usyk the same way he did Ngannou, Wilder, Chisora, Whyte, Otto Wallin, and Sefer Seferi. Fury is going to maul.
Size and Reach Advantages
“He’s taller, his reach is longer, and he’s more flexible,” said Zhang about his belief that Fury’s superior size and flexibility will enable him to defeat the smaller fighter Usyk if Tyson comes in shape.
“I just do believe he has so many physical advantages over Oleksandr Usyk. So, I think in a perfect world, I’m leaning for Tyson Fury to get the victory,” said Zhang.
Fury’s outside game is poor, consisting of throwing limp jabs and slow right hands. He has no hand speed, and his power is nowhere.
This is precisely why Fury has become a mauler. He doesn’t have a good jab, and he’s too slow & weak to control fights from the outside the way bigger heavyweights like Lennox Lewis did during his career.
