Tyson Fury is in camp working hard on ways to avenge the first loss of his professional career to Oleksandr Usyk.
That defeat came in May at the hands of the Ukrainian he once taunted as being a ‘pumped up middleweight’. Usyk managed to impose himself on the naturally much bigger man, particularly in the decisive 9th round which saw the southpaw land a huge shot followed by a barrage of unanswered punches which led the referee to administer a count.
With a split decision win on the cards, Usyk became the undisputed four-belt heavyweight champion, repeating a feat he had also achieved down at cruiserweight in 2018.
The rematch between the two takes place in Saudi Arabia on December 21 and ahead of that former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua has been speaking to iFL TV about the first fight and how he believes Fury’s trash-talking about Usyk being too small backfired.
“I said Usyk would win. I said that from 2023, I do think Fury is a good fighter, but there is levels. A cruiserweight nearly knocked him out, knocked out Fury.
You’ve got to learn from these situations, I don’t think he underestimated him, saying you’re a middleweight this and that, it just goes to show, you should never downplay a fighter, you should give them the credit they deserve.
You should never go in there thinking you’re going to bully someone and the next minute the tables can turn. Usyk put up a good performance. Fury should give him more respect next time and he might put up a better performance.”
He was then asked outright if Fury could win but couldn’t see it, much like others in the sport.
“Me personally, what I think, no way. I think Fury is good, we saw some good moments, I just don’t think he can do it. It’s not that I don’t rate Fury, I just don’t think he’s better than Usyk.”
‘AJ’ knows Usyk and his skillset well having lost his belts to him back in 2021. He failed to win them back in an immediate rematch one year later.
The popular Brit has since took on Daniel Dubois for the IBF world title but was stopped in five rounds and is currently taking time out before he reveals his next fight, with many believing it could be against Fury if he fails to right the wrongs in the rematch.
