WHERE USYK VS FURY 2 WILL BE WON AND LOST
We’re literally hours away from the most highly anticipated rematch of the year as Oleksandr Usyk defends his WBC, WBO, WBA & Ring Magazine World Heavyweight Titles against The Gypsy King himself Tyson Fury.
It’ll be the second time the pair have come to blows after Usyk outpointed the Brit back in May and in this article, we’ll be taking a look at how he can repeat the feat and likewise, how Fury can avenge the only loss of his career so far.
For Usyk, he’s already got the winning formula so you would think he has the easier task. However, like the elite-level fighter like Fury is, he will make his own alterations therefore Usyk will have to make some of his own too.
In the first fight, Usyk’s sharp body punching from that busy southpaw stance caused Fury a heap of problems.
He was finding a way under that long lead arm of Tyson’s and he was landing at will to that huge frame of Fury’s.
The Ukrainian then started to use faints which Fury bit to and that’s when he would start throwing wide shots to the head of Tyson’s and he was getting a lot of success. That combined with his quick hands, footwork and front foot pressure, he got the better of the exchanges in mid-range.
When he got Fury dancing in the ninth round, it came off the back of a wide right hook followed by a wide-stinging left hook.
Fury was often bouncing off the ropes so these wide shots became the most effective for the reigning unified champ becuase Fury’s chin would be left in the air.
If Usyk is going to retain his titles, albeit now four and not five due to the IBF controversially stripping him, he’s going to need to do similar but unlike the first fight, he’s going to have to be slightly more patient. His boxing IQ is probably better and being the smaller man his footwork is better and his hands are quicker.
He needs to make the most of these early on, especially with Fury’s tendency to pull back with his chin in the air. He’s gotten away with this due to his size in the past but with Usyk’s footwork, he was able to get into range quick enough to capitalise on that.
Usyk can’t just fly out of the traps and think this is round 13 because it isn’t, it’s a completely different fight. He needs to be patient, download the data and then go through the gears once he’s happy with the information in which he’s got.
For Fury, weirdly, the assignment is probably more simple despite him losing the first fight.
He knows roughly what we are going to get with Usyk whereas this is going to be a much improved Tyson Fury and in reality, a much different one.
It’s a well-known fact that Fury’s camp for the fight was massively affected due to the cut which meant the original date in February had to be pushed back.
Really, like Fury admitted this week, he should have just taken the £10 million fine he would have been given for pulling out of the fight to ensure that he was in the best possible condition for when the pair would eventually fight for the first time.
Where the Brit had success in the first fight was clear to see. Usyk started the quicker and pushed Fury back and he struggled with this so as soon as Tyson got on the front foot, he started to have success and take the ascendency.
It’s no secret that Usyk is vulnerable to the body and in the mid-rounds, Fury really started to use his size and strength and target that and at one point, it looked like he was on his way to either a stoppage victory or a runaway points victory.
However, two things then happened. Fury got complacent, or quite simply wanted to pace himself due to the lack of sparring he had in the build-up to the fight and whilst that happened, like any good champion, Usyk was able to get his second wind and completely change the momentum of the contest.
Another thing that worked well for Fury was offsetting Usyk. He spent a large majority of the fight flicking his jab out but on a couple of occasions when Usyk set his feet, he put a bit more power behind his jab and you could tell it was offsetting Usyk and halting his imminent attack and making him think again.
If Fury is going to win this fight, he needs to put all of the above together. He can’t try and outbox the boxer because as we saw in the first fight, when he did try to do that it didn’t work.
He needs to get on the front foot. He needs to make it dirty. He needs to make it scrappy. He needs to turn it into a good old-fashioned dust-up.
He needs to land heavy to that body when he’s in range and then chip away at it when he gets his hands on the Ukrainian and starts grappling with him.
The uppercut worked a treat in the first fight and obviously, Usyk will have been working hard in camp to stop that from happening again but with focus on that, it leaves Fury with opportunities to capitalise on Usyk’s other weaknesses which, don’t get me wrong, there aren’t many of.
We know Usyk’s got the engine to go 12 rounds at a good solid pace, we know Tyson has too but we don’t know whether has at the pace that Usyk can fight at.
Fury’s best chance of winning this contest may well be to give himself eight rounds, fight at a pace that is going to push Usyk back more often than not and look to land heavy with a large majority of his punches.
Use the tippy tappy stuff, but only really as faints and to get bites out of Usyk to create openings for Fury to then get on his chest and use his weight and strength on the inside.
To put it bluntly, does Oleksandr Usyk have more levels to what he showed in the first fight? More than likely. Does Tyson Fury have more levels to what he showed in the first fight? Absolutely and that is what makes this rematch so interesting.
Whoever does go on to win this highly anticipated rematch, it will once again take a special performance so get your takeaway ordered and sit back and watch two of the greatest heavyweights of all time put it all on the line for the second time.