You know, before Fury pussed out of the February fight I imagined in my mind just this sort of scenario and how damaging it would be to Fury's chances down the line. Well, seems the boxing gods heard me and made it a reality. Fury is now going into the Usyk fight coming off a terrible performance, some say a loss, against a man who just got blasted by a HW who's supposedly lower in the pecking order than him. That's got to sting. But the fact that that man holds two back to back losses to Usyk is really going to erode Fury's confidence going into the Usyk fight. Karma's coming for Fury in a big way, and his only options are to pull out of the fight again, permanently this time, or try his hardest to rig the deck in his favour. Which might just work if he goes to crazy enough extremes both before and during the fight. But it's not going to be a victory worth celebrating if it happens, and it won't provide him with that sense of satisfaction he craves since everyone will know he essentially cheated to get the win. Does Fury really look back on the Ngannou fight as a win for him? His crestfallen look in the immediate aftermath of the Joshua massacre suggests not.
Fury was always going to turn up in better shape than the Ngannou fight. I think he will shock a lot of people.
Better shape means sharper and having trained harder, similar to the version of him which showed up against Wilder in the second fight. I have no doubts if he does fight Usyk that he will be significantly better than he was in the Ngannou and Chisora fights.
Even Bellew and Hearn said that anyone thinking Fury cut himself on purpose are absolutely mental and belong in an asylum For once I agree with them
Maybe it's because they are all English? And maybe Hearn is hoping to make AJ vs Fury and make lots of money?
Fury isn't exactly a body puncher, is he. These long ass arms with Usyk being a moving target won't help him. Also, Usyk being vulnerable to the body is hella exaggerated.
The big questions are: 1) Is that actually possible? 2) Is it enough even if he can? Bearing in mind Wilder 2 is already over 4 years ago and Fury hasn't looked after himself over the years, it's quite possibly he's physically not capable of getting back to that level of fitness... Especially considering he hasn't done so since. And then... Would even that be enough? I don't think that style would work for him against Usyk, but the kind of movement and output he'd need to fight effectively against Usyk might require more fitness than that fight did. It'll be interesting to see what shape he turns up in... If he does at all.
I would agree about that. But the question is how much he has left. He tortured his own body in the past 10 years so much, and at some point your body doesnt forgive you anymore. It's like an alcoholic. At some point your liver is done. Usually a liver can recover when you stop drinking, but if you do it over many years, at some points it cant recover anymore.
Usyk will utterly school fury, it will be comical and fury will foul so much that he gets disqualified and can go on with his trash talk how good he is and that was a robbery and not a legitimate win.
He doesn't look as thick or muscular as that version and I doubt he can get there anymore. Maybe he can physically look the same but is the performance going to be the same to go along with it? Also that version wasn't really sharp, he was just able to put lots of pressure on which was needed against Wilder who can't handle pressure. Usyk is a different problem. I'm not sure what things Fury should work on to be able to beat him. Probably stuff he can't do anymore involving lots of footwork and quick punches from outside Usyk's range.
The Ngannou performance of his own should've been more than enough for Fury to be motivated in camp. If he loses though we'll hear the top 20 hits again " he wasn't prepared" and " he didn't take the fight seriously ". I've never seen a supposed great fighter get that pass once, let alone multiple times in a career. Insane.
Just as well you weren't around in Alis time then Also just to flip the coin to the other side, do you not think there will be excuses if Usyk loses? Fury has way more haters than fans. I doubt he will get any credit if he wins He doesn't even get credit for Wlad now, so I doubt beating usyk will mean anything