Tonight brings us the anticipated rematch between the 2 best Heavyweights on the planet in a fight that is too close to call, but I will dissect and give my opinion on how it could play out…
If we go back to the first fight 7 months ago, Fury could have had the fight won in his head after 5 or 6 rounds while he was cruising and a mixture of showboating fury and Usyk’s ability to adjust in a fight was the defeat of Furia on this occasion.
Ultimately, the pivotal moment in that fight was the 9th round, which Usyk dominated and it resulted in 10 – 8 rounds in favor of Usyk. If this time it had been 10 – 9 to Usyk, the fight would have ended in a Majority draw. It always comes down to thin margins at the peak of any sport and I believe Fury can adjust and correct mistakes to get the job done tonight.
Make no mistake, Usyk is a generational great and is the only fighter who has not been defeated by any of Fury’s mind games which has resulted in a more focused and colder version of Fury this time around. All games are made and this is a very different Tyson Fury.
There is no doubt that Fury has a great boxing IQ, as does Usyk, however, in terms of rematches, then I strongly believe that Fury will make the necessary adjustments to return and improve more than Usyk. 2 remarkable rematches that saw a massive improvement with the first round in 2009 against John Mcdermott where Fury won a razor decision, and many thought he might have lost.
In the rematch that was not immediate, but 3 fights and 9 months later, Fury won with a convincing 9th round stoppage. The most notable rematch was the 2ndfight with Wilder. The first fight had a vulnerable Fury recovering from a 12th round knockdown that resulted in a draw and like the Mcdermott rematch, Fury rematched with Wilder 3 fights later. The 2nd fight with Wilder ended with Fury knocking him out with a 7th round stoppage.
This rematch is different for different reasons. Usyk is head and shoulders above Mcdermott and Wilder. This is an immediate rematch and both fighters are probably past their peak and reaching the end of their careers. Make no mistake, however, as many of the great heavyweight wars including The Thrilla in Manilla in 1975 between Ali v Frazier in their trilogy had both fighters past their prime and reaching the end of their careers , this however has no impact becoming one of the greatest parties in the history of heavyweights and I think this may still be up to expectations.
If Usyk were to win, then I think this could be the last time we see the two fighters in the ring again as what else could be done. Fury would be coming off back-to-back losses, Usyk has been unified champion in 2 weight divisions and has already beaten 2 of the top contenders, including current IBF world champion Daniel Dubois and former world champion Anthony Joshua.
A win by Fury opens the division for a trilogy with Usyk, a massive fight with Anthony Joshua or another unified fight with the winner of Dubois V Parker, although Parker wins is another story Parker and Fury are very close, but the point remains that a Fury win will generate more money than a Usyk win and this is a fact.
How to win this match is again very difficult to call and a very interesting stat jumps out at me. Usyk has never been officially knocked down in his professional career to date, however, he was knocked out by unified world lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev with a brutal body shot in the amateurs in 2011. Another interesting statistic is that Fury won by KO in every round except the 12th round.
My prediction is a 12th round stoppage for Fury as this stat just screams to me and I think Fury will want to leave it all in the ring this time.
I can see it going to points, but I want to make a bold prediction and put a few pounds on Fury by 12th round KO.
What do readers predict…..?
