Tyson Fury will be allowed to fight with his long beard this Saturday night against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) chose not to shave, and was given the green light to compete with the lumberjack beard.
Usyk’s team complained about his beard and wanted Fury, 36, to shave, but he has no intention of doing so. His reasoning for having a long beard is unclear, but some believe it helps cushion his chin and protect him from being hurt again by Usyk’s powerful left hand.
Why The Beard now?
Fans believe that a large beard provides extra protection against punches on the chin, where Fury was injured in the first fight. If this is the reason why Fury chose to keep his beard, it gives the look of a desperate man willing to do anything to win.
A clean-shaven Fury was badly shaken in the ninth round by a left from Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in their first fight on May 18 and saved by the referee, who gave him an eight count in the nick of time. .
“He’s got a beard, and there’s been a lot of fighters over the years who’ve fought with beards, and that’s it,” Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports Boxing.
Fury’s decision to grow a long mountain man beard suggests he is absolutely desperate to win, looking for every possible angle to get the W on Saturday night against his former conqueror Usyk. The Gyspy King must win for him to get the trilogy match against Usyk that Turki Alalshikh wants to happen.
Is Fury trying to do Turki a favor with the beard? I would not be surprised if this was one of the reasons for King Gispy to sport a beard, with the protection of his chin.
Desperate rage
There is a lot of money in it for Fury if he can get the third fight with Oleksandr, in addition to the two likely to happen against Anthony Joshua.
We don’t really know why Fury chose to fight with a beard, as he treated the rematch with Usyk differently than his previous fights. He says he hasn’t spoken to his wife, Paris, in three months since the start of his training camp. If true, this suggests that Fury is desperate to win and will go all out to get the win.
Fury looks like he’s gone through an accelerated aging process since his loss, and you can tell the defeat hit him hard mentally. People get old in stressful times, and Fury looks like 10 years have passed since his first fight with Oleksandr.
Given how desperate Fury is to win, hopefully he doesn’t resort to fouling Usyk on Saturday night. Current and ex-fighters have come out of the woodwork to recommend that Fury rough up Usyk to help him win.
