If Fury does that, I'll go back on Usyk opening up cuts, and want him to headbutt Fury every time he trys that holding and leaning BS.
Lol Fury was never great against anybody. Usyk never looked great against any heavyweight as a pro. Fury is 6'7. There are have been tons of 6'7 plus heavyweights so his size isn't a issue. What will happen is this is will be a boring fight where neither guy lands many punches.
Are there any aggressive 1st round fighters in the heavyweight division anymore? I think the first round will be a snooze. A couple punches thrown by both fighters and it could be scored either way. (In reality lots of first rounds should be scored 10-10, but for some stupid reason such a score is frowned upon.) I agree that this is the likeliest outcome. Usyk is not a knockout artist and Fury, by his own admission, isn't great against small guys. This'll likely be a frustrating fight - frustrating for both fighters and for the audience. I would love to be wrong though.
Usyk can butt at least 2 times before issues kick in. OU needs to make Fury concerned about holding excessively.
I don't see Uysk getting in a position to headbutt. He should be focussed on using his legs to pivot out, under and away. It's inevitable that Fury will grab hold of him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear though.
That's not how Usyk fights. He usually has a quiet first couple of rounds to get a feel for things before turning up the gas.
I think, like the AJ fight, Usyk will be looking to set the pace early and land some solid shots to give Fury something to think about. His best shot is pace, volume, and angles - the quicker he works those the better and he can't afford many, if any, dubious rounds. He needs to decisively win 9.
If Fury is the fighting man he and you have been claiming, he shouldn't hold excessively as a defensive strategy. Cowards move.
Not sure how important usyk winning them first few rounds are for him. Looks to me their number one goal is always to get the opponent expending more energy than they should be expending at that point. Weather thats through concentration/output/excess movement or a combination of them all they,ll be happy with that. Bellew won rounds. But was knackered by the 7th doing it. Will be interesting to see if usyk can have the same effect against a much naturally bigger opponent. At some point it could get negated. Lomachenko the most skilled fighter in the world...even struggled eventually the higher up he goes in weight.