Tyson Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, revealed one area his fighter could target for his fight against Oleksandr Usyk, his breadbasket for their headliner on May 18th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Gypsy King Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) is coming off a career-worst before last October, and he seems to have lost a few steps since his war with Deontay Wilder in 2021.
Fury’s decline is painful to watch, and it doesn’t bode well for him to enter this with the ultra-talented Ukrainian heavyweight. It’s got to be worrisome for Fury’s management and his loyal fans to see him fading badly just as he’s going in against his toughest opponent in nine years. The timing of this fight is terrible for Fury.
Warren mentions the potential for Fury to target Usyk, but he doesn’t discuss what’s expected to be his main strategy for the fight. We’re talking about mauling, holding, and hitting—those are obvious ones, along with elbows here and there.
Risky Business: Targeting the Body
Warren feels that IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) is vulnerable to the body, viewing it as his “Achilles Heel” for their undisputed championship fight.
This writer hates to say it, but no boxer’s body is bulletproof, including the chunky Fury, who looked obese in his controversial win over Francis Ngannou last October.
“His Achilles’ heel, as I’ve said, and I’m surprised the so-called experts never picked up on it, has always been his body,” Warren said to Sky Sports.
“Daniel Dubois, that’s what he was trained for, to go and exploit that and he nearly pulled it off.”
Assuming that Fury isn’t going to resort to going low with his shots the way Dubois did, he could be asking for it if he targets Usyk’s body. When a fighter targets the body of highly talented boxers, they leave their heads exposed and they get clobbered.
Fury’s Glass Jaw
Fury has a glass jaw, and he likely hasn’t fully recovered from the vicious punishment he took at the hands of Deontay Wilder in their three fights.
That fight took the best out of the Gypsy King, and he’s been hanging in there with the soft match-making done for him, fighting journeymen Derek Chisora, Dillian Whyte, and the novice Francis Ngannou.
Any boxer is vulnerable to taking body shots, especially if they’re getting hit by a big puncher like Daniel Dubois. That’s the guy that put Usyk down with a bodyshot last August in their fight in Poland. But the referee ruled it as a low blow, so Usyk got up after shaking off the hard shot and went on to knock him out in the ninth.
If the 35-year-old Fury, who isn’t the biggest puncher, is banking on being able to hurt Usyk to the body, he could be wasting his time because he doesn’t hit hard enough. Also, Usyk will be ready for that approach and could nail him if he tries it.
The Delay: A Sign of Doubt?
Going up against Usyk puts Fury against the most talented opponent since his match against 40-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Some believe that Fury’s main reason for delaying his fight with Usyk twice is that he realizes that he’s not mentally and physically prepared for this kind of opponent.
It’s possible that Fury’s sparring partners made him realize that he’s not nearly ready for a talent like Usyk; hence, he keeps putting off the fight.
Getting belted around the ring by sparring partners might have been the catalyst that led to Fury delaying the fight, believing that he could roll back the years if he had more time to train. That’s a deluded view because putting in more time isn’t going to be the magical fountain of youth to grant eternal youth.
Let’s face it; Fury ain’t getting any younger, and his absence of hair clearly indicates that he’s not what he once was.