What was Fury doing that made Usyk struggle so much during the mid rounds of the first fight?

If he wasn’t a drug cheat maybe but he is so he shouldn’t even be in the conversation

 

Yeh fair enough

 

It’s a crying shame though same goes for canelo, every fight in their careers is tainted for me, especially with the refusal to admit guilt

 

I do not want to take anything from Usyk. He is a darn good fighter! Fury did do well, though, when he moved to his own left. Basic stuff when fighting a lefty. He moved to his right, into Usyk's power, too often. I am not sure what the plan was, in Fury's camp, for either fight.

 

Even for the very best boxers ever in a H2H sense - especially in the early rounds, its really not easy to figure Fury out. He is super skilled, obviously massive and unpredictable as well.

What I notice when people fight Usyk and it goes late, they just gas out as Usyk makes you so tired with the way he dictates the tempo of the fight and keeping you guessing. This was the case with Fury.

 

You could write all the names of the boxing drug cheats who admitted guilt on the back of a post stamp.

 

Usyk is extremely good at reading his opponents and seeing what their next move is so he can react accordingly. He can tell when his opponent will be open to an attack, when they are going on the offense etc etc. And when that isn't working too well Usyk can just turn up the pace to overcome that.

Fury turned it up a level and was fighting at a great pace for him and he also disguised those uppercuts really well in a way that Usyk hadn't prepared for and hadn't seen before. It left Usyk bamboozled before he started to effectively read them and also he could pick up the pace more where as Fury was at his limit.

 

He kept him at range with his jab and movement and walked him onto uppercuts and mixed it up with some bodyshots to keep Usyk guessing and Usyk was on the frontfoot and trying to get in range so he was more vulnerable to counter shots. He also used some nice angles to get those uppercuts through. Usyk is brilliant but that doesn't mean other great boxers can't get through to him sometimes.

 

He basically made Usyk back up on HIS terms. Usyk couldn't come forward and pressure properly because Fury kept catching him coming with well-timed uppercuts. He couldn't box off of his backfoot effectively either because Fury out-jabbed him and used that to set up combinations to the body as Usyk's high guard left his body exposed.

He boxed brilliantly, but he just couldn't sustain the activity and Usyk started avoiding the uppercuts more and more as the time went on.

 

I think we should be studying what Briedis was doing that made him be the man who was the closest to defeat Usyk. There were multiple boxers who had 3 good rounds against Usyk, but nobody was as consistent as Briedis.

 

I think it was a combination of Fury being 6ft 9in, 39lbs heavier, younger, being a natural HW
But to be fair to Usyk it was only 3 rounds in a 12 round fight.

 

Considering how close it was would have been cool to see a rematch.

 

Fury is a good boxer for his massive size and very difficult to deal with, Usyk never fought anyone like that.
People act like Usyk had it easy in the second half but it's not true. The fact Fury still kept it close in the last rounds after being massively concussed shows Usyk was still having difficulties.

In the second fight Fury was probably too defensive after almost getting KO'd the first time, I think it impacted him mentally and helped Usyk win more easily.

Let's be honest Fury also has a terrible trainer and basically had to take on Usyk by himself. Usyk has a much better team and could give better advice for gameplans etc.

 

Fury only faltered because he tired whilst Usyk kept up the pressure gameplay

Pretty much any other fighter in that position would have backed off and let Fury continue to control the fight. Usyk took a big risk and just kept coming. He stuck to his gameplan and knew what he had to do through the fire and the flames.

Fury shouldn't have messed around early fight and his struggles late fight are stamina and discipline issues which are his own doing. Now that he's lost he hasn't got out of shape for 7 months but knowing Usyk was in the works a year down the line he got fat and lazy which he will regret for the rest of his life, he tells himself he won them fights but he knows he didn't and its on him.

 

Chisora wasn’t Usyk’s first pro fight at HW.