Throughout his legendary — and, at times, tumultuous — career for a 6-foot-9 giant like two-time heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, the self-proclaimed “Gypsy King” has been remarkably quiet, if not for his 16 years as a pro this week. Want to take revenge for the first rate.
Under normal circumstances, any words needing to come out of Fury’s mouth throughout the build to a big fight, the England native is often given colorful and sarcastic responses, usually depending on the hour, day and who is doing the interview. Put a microphone in front of his face and the 36-year-old Fury can tease retirement in one breath, five minutes later, fighting as long as he lives.
So, when Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) was questioned Wednesday at the conclusion of his public workout earlier Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Unified Heavyweight Title rematch What was most striking against Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) was that Fury’s usual buoyant nature was gone. And, no matter the line of questioning thrown at him, Fury provided a dark, deadpan response to what fans should expect.
“A lot of pain. Hurt and damage. A lot of hurt,” Fury said. “Injury, serious injury. A lot of damage.”
A day later, at the final press conference of the fight, a seemingly reanimated version of Fury appeared dressed in a loud suit, black tophat and an overgrown beard. But his words and demeanor were just as dark when asked about his suddenly serious personality, which proved to be the only word of substance Fury supplied.
“I’m going to take out a whole lot of pain. I’m definitely going to put this s— in the injury locker,” Fury said. “I have nothing to say. There’s going to be a whole lot of hurt and pain in this fight, you see. That’s all I have to say. It’s done.”
Fury has overcome the loss outside the ring, though, out of the public eye — Fury’s dramatic comeback from depression and substance abuse followed his 2015 title upset in Wladimir after losing by split decision to Usyk the night before his wife Paris miscarried. Klitschko — This is the first time he’s had to reconcile an in-ring setback (save for his controversial 2018 draw against Deontay Wilder that Fury went on to avenge twice via stoppage).
After a slow start against Usyk in the undisputed heavyweight title fight of the four-belt era, defending lineal champion Fury dominated his smaller opponent in the middle rounds, relying on his seven-inch reach advantage to outbox Usyk from distance. Paying with hard hooks to the body and devastating counter uppercuts.
The 37-year-old Usyk, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion, had the momentum back in his favor starting in round 8. A round later, he literally unleashed a fury on the ropes following a dramatic sequence of 14 unanswered punches. That saw Fury seemingly one big punch away from the finish.
To Fury’s credit, he never hit the canvas. But after he fell to the corner and was held up by the ropes, referee Mark Nelson correctly ruled it a knockdown, giving Usyk a 10-8 round. That one point turned out to be the difference in the fight as Usyk claimed a split decision (115-112, 113-114, 114-113).
Had Fury not been eliminated, the fight would have been a draw. And if he wins Round 9, victory will swing his way. That’s how close their first meeting was to August’s Virgil Ortiz Jr-Serhiy Bohachuk fight as well as remaining co-frontrunners for boxing’s 2024 fight.
Fury, who is no stranger to divisive comments, still believes he should have won the fight and maintained his initial position post-fight that two of the three judges only gave Usyk the fight because his country was locked in a war. with Russia.
On the surface, given a historically great fight scored this close, Fury has nothing to be ashamed of with his performance. But, the reality is that he allowed a smaller guy, who is not known as a big puncher, to take him down and almost finish him. In fact, according to Compubox, Usyk’s 170 landed punches were the most by a Fury opponent, and Usyk outshot him 36 to 15 on power shots through rounds 10 to 12.
A big part of that appeared to be the fact that Fury was visibly gassed out in the second half of the fight, which doesn’t help against an opponent as fit and mentally determined as Usyk. There was also a sense that Fury, who entered the new fight last October after a scare against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in which he was dropped and forced to hang on for a split decision, had overlooked and marveled at how great Usyk really was. As anyone by defeat.
Fury’s stamina dump may have been due to the fact that he was forced to pull out of the original Feb. 17 date due to a cut above his eye, which, according to Fury, limited his skills throughout much of training camp. Fury, whose “dad bod” in his mid-to-late 30s can sometimes deceive his true fitness level, also weighed in at 262 pounds for the first fight, which was less than his career high of 277 against Ngannou but still 247 he weighed in for Klitschko.
There’s also the reality of Fury, a father of seven, having to endure the emotional pain of his wife’s miscarriage so close to the fight. Although Fury was not officially told of the development in an effort to keep his focus intact, his wife’s absence from the fight gave him an ominous feeling.
However you want to frame their first meeting, it’s hard not to realize that Usyk, a betting underdog who is now a slight favorite entering the rematch, exceeded pre-fight expectations while Fury slightly under-delivered. It’s a reality that’s clearly eating at Fury, which may explain his dramatic mental shift.
To make sure there are no excuses the second time around, Fury switches to an old-school approach for this fight, ESPN says this week That he has cut off all contact with his wife, children and father “Big” John Fury for the past three months during a training camp in Malta, who will be in his corner on Saturday with head trainer Sugarhill Steward and former middleweight champion Andy Lee. Fury also stayed away from his cell phone or the Internet.
In order to win the rematch, Fury will have to make some changes, which is why it will be interesting to see his weight for this fight. Fury must find a healthy balance between coming in weakened for the second fight so he still has stamina and speed, and packing on extra muscle and weight, as his father advised, so he can use his six. -inch size and nearly 40-pound weight advantage as a weapon.
If Fury can’t repeat the kind of success he had against Usyk as a big puncher in the middle rounds of their first fight, it will be difficult for him to outbox the best pure boxer the heavyweight division has seen in decades. Fury needs to cut off the ring more, lean on Usyk to tire him out in the clinch and not hesitate to bend the rules to make Usyk as uncomfortable as possible when they get close, which sounds like a simple plan but it is one. Fury reminded us that other Usyk opponents (such as Anthony Joshua and current IBF titleholder Daniel Dubois) were unable to do so.
“If it was easy to walk down Usyk, if you were a big guy and bullied him, Anthony Joshua would do it at 6-foot-6 and 260 (pounds),” Fury said. ESPN “And Daniel Dubois. These are big punching guys, big, strong guys. They didn’t take him down. So, I don’t think it’s as simple as walking up to someone with your hands up.”
Usyk may be the current pound-for-pound king but he’s not unbeatable. Fury’s co-promoter, Frank Warren, whose fighter Dubois nearly finished off Usyk in 2023 before stopping late with exhaustion, Believing that the full-time focus on the bottom floor is what Fury can do against UsicWhich Warren believes is his weakness. Current undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, who went 1-2 against Usyk as an amateur, Also knocked him down at the 2011 World Championships.
However, it all depends on what kind of shape Fury enters in, which we won’t know for sure until Friday’s weigh-in. Fury appeared to have purposely kept the media in the dark about the matter during his public workouts, where he wore an oversized sweatshirt (with a leather jacket over it) and barely moved around the ring for the photographers in attendance.
If history is any indication, Fury is 4-0 in rematches after a trilogy with both Wilder and Derek Chisora with four knockouts. But what has historically made Fury unique as a heavyweight is the hand and foot speed he brings to such an overwhelmingly large frame, something that almost a decade ago would have had Klitschko fumbling and dancing around him.
Unfortunately for Fury, that version of himself has gotten a little older and put on more mileage, which means he’ll have to not only be the big man on Saturday but also fight like one to get his hands on it. The defining fight of his illustrious career.
Until then, you won’t hear much from Fury, who had to separate from Usyk after Thursday’s post-press conference reached about 10 minutes after the two were deadlocked and neither took a step back with a steely gaze between them. What you get is the promise of violence and a Fury win, which would extend the Usyk streak to a third and defining rubber match that will see the best heavyweights in the division’s current renaissance era.
“The first fight, I talked, I joked — my whole career,” Fury said. “Now I’m serious. I’m going to do some damage here Saturday night. Watch me go to work.”
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