Tyson Fury says he will be more focused and not “Clown” in his rematch with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in 22 days on December 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He seems to be in complete denial of how much he was outclassed by Usyk, and it will be worse for him in his rematch.
The “Gypsy King” (34-1-1, 24 KOs) and his fans believe that the reason for his previous 12-round split decision loss to Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in his first fight on May 18 was due to a loss of focus and a bit of clowning.
Like many old fighters they don’t want to face the truth about his failures, Fury, 36, lost because he was never that good. Usyk exposed how limited Fury was by attacking him to the body, pinning him against the ropes, and stunning him with a big left hand in the ninth. That should be the end of it.
Was Usyk injured?
“I have a feeling that Fury will do it in the second fight. I really think that Fury is not kidding this time, and he has got the piece between his teeth,” said Gareth A. Davies to talkSport Boxingpredicting a victory for Tyson Fury over Oleksandr Usyk on December 21.
“I think it’s going to be very close again, and he (Fury) could hang on again to win on points. I just think he’s going to leave it all there. He’s a special man. He’s a very, very special man, and he was a very close and brutal fight the first time.
“The meeting in the session the other day was Usyk admitting that he wasn’t hurt in that fight, and he was hurt in that fight. He was so stoic. He doesn’t give you anything. He (Fury) was beating him,” he said. Gareth on his belief that Fury would beat Usyk in the first six rounds.
Gareth is a perfect example of a typical Fury fan who feels that his previous loss was just a case of him not coming forward to pressure Usyk. Looking closely at the first fight with both eyes open, you can see that Usyk was landing hard shots to Fury’s basket in the first two rounds.
He didn’t like those shots and retreated to the ropes to avoid getting hit with those shots. This is where the fight was lost for Fury. He couldn’t handle the body shots from Usysk, so he beat a hasty retreat to the ropes to use them to support his injured midsection.
The first half of the Fury-Usyk fight was not close, and Usyk was not injured. He dominated five of the first six rounds and had Fury on his feet in round nine.
“A lot of doubters and journalists say that Usyk was up there with the legends of the sport. The Muhammad Alis, the Fraziers, the Foremans, the Joe Louis, and of course the greatest of his generation,” he said promoter Frank Warren at Sky Sports Boxing.
“I’m glad they said it because when Tyson beats him, nobody can argue with the fact that he beat the best of his generation, that will make him the best of his generation,” Warren said of Fury.
Doubts demand withdrawal
If Fury loses the rematch with Usyk on December 21, there will be many boxing fans calling for him to retire. It will basically be the 36-year-old Gypsy King’s third in a row, if you count his controversial 10-round split decision win over Francis Ngannou last year on October 28, 2023, as a loss.
Fury looked like the underdog in that fight, but was awarded a decision. All the tricks Tyson had used to defeat Deontay Wilder twice, the tilting, grappling and roughhouse tactics, failed him against Ngannou. They didn’t even work on Usyk.
