Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury‘s much anticipated heavyweight rematch is fast approaching.
It has been seven months since these two supremely talented stars of the banner division first did battle back in May. That undisputed contest was the first since 1999 when Lennox Lewis was the last man to hold all the major belts.
It was an engaging 12-rounder in which former Olympic Gold medalist Usyk managed to land the more significant shots and claim the points decision which handed The Gypsy King his first-ever professional loss.
Only three of the four belts are up for grabs when they do it again on December 21 in Saudi Arabia as the IBF was vacated by Usyk in order to fulfil this rematch. Daniel Dubois has since made that belt his own with wins over Fillip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua.
Speaking to TNT Sports Boxing former undisputed cruiserweight king Usyk was asked about the punching power of Fury while watching the first fight back and dismissed it in an instant, even when watching Fury’s hellacious uppercut in round six.
“No feel.”
Usyk did praise Fury’s body work though and said that he was telling himself to ‘move, move, move’ in the moment. He is confident of taking the Brit’s best, saying that him being knocked out is ‘dreaming.’
Fury has proven before he can beat fighters in multiple ways. He has won many times on points including his standout first world title win against Wladimir Klitschko in Germany back in 2015, but has also put away the likes of Deontay Wilder with sustained heavy punching in two of their three fights, and has stopped fighters like Dillian Whyte with one epic uppercut at Wembley.
Quite how he will approach this rematch is what makes it so intriguing, and whoever does come out on top may well look to once again go into an undisputed fight with Dubois or run it back in a trilogy.
