Tyson Fury looks to avenge his one and only career defeat against Oleksandr Usyk this December.
The Brit lost his WBC title to the Ukrainian in May in the first undisputed heavyweight clash in over two decades.
The fight ebbed and flowed in both directions, with Usyk starting strong but losing momentum in the middle rounds when Fury started landing with a thudding uppercut. It looked, at that stage, like ‘The Gypsy King’ was set to bring all four belts back to Morecambe.
Usyk though did what he always does – found a way to up the gears and take back control. He had Fury out on his feet in a huge ninth round and finished strong to take it on the cards via split decision.
Speaking to TalkSPORT Boxing, three-time Fury opponent and one-time Usyk foe Derek Chisora said his countryman was under-prepared.
“I don’t think Tyson was 100 per cent when he walked into that ring. He had a massive cut, he didn’t wanna get fined for missing the fight. He didn’t spar the way he wanted to spar, and he was under-prepared, under-prepared for that fight. The confidence was not there. And you’ve got to realise, he was mucking around for the first four or five rounds because the confidence was not there.”
Much has been made of Fury’s corner on the night, consisting of trainer SugarHill Steward, coach Andy Lee and his father John. Many in the sport feel that there were too many voices. Chisora – who lost in a one-sided affair to Fury two years ago after giving Usyk a tough heavyweight test back in 2020 – reflected on that whilst predicting a Usyk knockout in the rematch.
“I think Usyk stops him this time. Him and SugarHill Steward – that relationship is kind of dying down. Because when they got together, they were listening to each other. They were all in panic. It was not because there was loads of voices, they were all in panic. They knew they were losing the fight so they figured they had to start saying something because he was not listening to SugarHill and he was not listening to his dad.”
