Tyson Fury lost his WBC world heavyweight title to Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in May; rivals meet again in a rematch on December 21; Top Rank president feels "Tyson let him off the hook" in the original fight
Wednesday 6 November 2024 11:52, UK
Oleksandr Usyk might just be immune to the mind games that Tyson Fury so gleefully plays.
The Ukrainian's unrelenting will to win is a hallmark of the boxing prowess that has seen him become an undisputed world champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, as well as becoming the first professional opponent to beat Fury.
While Fury and Usyk will battle for a mental edge in the build-up to their December 21 rematch, the Briton might have just the physical attributes he needs to get a revenge win.
Todd DuBoef, president of Fury's co-promoters Top Rank, told Sky Sports: "I don't know the gamesmanship Tyson plays but I do think stylistically he's going to have to be really, really focused for the entire 12 rounds.
"Usyk is terrific. He has shown that he's a wonderful fighter, an incredible heavyweight who transitioned from a lighter division up to heavyweight and he seems like you're not going to faze him at all mentally.
"These athletes are trained, very well disciplined, they've seen it all. They have grit, they have determination and they have a powerful mind.
"Tyson's going to have to stay on his game to physically faze him. I don't think mentally he'll faze him."
But DuBoef believes the former two-time world heavyweight champion has the tools to do that.
"When you look at that first fight, he hurt [Usyk] to the body, he did that and then he got hit with that left hand that changed everything," DuBoef said.
"I was shocked, I thought that there was this physical discrepancy that seemed very significant early in the fight. But once Tyson got hit with that left hand, it just seemed to all fade, his distance and his bigger size, he was on his backfoot and he was on the ropes.
"I felt that Tyson let him off the hook."
If Fury is successful, DuBoef thinks Daniel Dubois, who picked up the IBF title Usyk vacated and knocked out Anthony Joshua in September in a stellar performance, could be a "natural" future fight for Fury.
"He was peaking at the right moment against Joshua," DuBoef said of Dubois. "I wasn't surprised. I think many people in the UK were surprised and I think many people around the world were surprised.
"I [thought] whoever gets to whoever's chin first is going to be successful and that's basically what happened. They're both punchers and they're both with marginal chins and I think that's what we saw.
"It played out for an exciting fight because with that last round, before the knockout, all of a sudden Joshua hurts him and cracks him and comes in and then boom, lights out."
An all-British showdown between Dubois and Fury could be spectacular, especially if the undisputed heavyweight world championship were on offer to the winner.
"Stylistically, Dubois - a puncher against a big boxer - I think it sets up for a fantastic stylistic fight, a real contrast of styles. Then you could get the undisputed all over again. It's really fascinating," DuBoef said.
"I'm just completely speculating," he added. "We're making an assumption, Tyson still has to beat Usyk. That's a pretty daunting task in front of him. To make that [Dubois] fight is a natural. If Tyson was to beat Usyk, it's a natural.
"But I could also see, you have one, I have one, let's figure out who's the king of the world between Usyk and Fury again and they do it a third time.
"So there's a whole bunch of different options in this that you could play out."
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