Fury vs Usyk Is On - Warren

Twice on a Sunday?

 

This is a mad take. I’m sure both ‘want it’ and the fight will happen. Never ceases to amaze me how much people buy into fight building hyperbole.

 

Booked my flights already

 

Far from it. I don’t give a damn about hype. It’s about analysis. Usyk is simply a stylistic nightmare matchup for Fury. Usyk beats Fury nine out of ten. To beat Usyk, you need a Briedis or Beterbiev type of guy. From the current crop of heavies, as unorthodox as it sounds, Ruiz would have much better chances than Fury. Usyk simply eats big guys for breakfast. Wallin, a much slower and less technical southpaw than Usyk, managed to counterpunch and slip under Fury’s jab, cutting him badly, going the distance with him etc. And then there’s of course the Cunningham fight as a precedence and Fury hasn’t fought anyone similar still. As Usyk is like a combination of Cunningham and Wallin (times ten), he is bad news for Fury.

Fury is very handy against various type of fighters. In fact, I would favour him against all active heavies today. But Usyk, due to his size and style, is simply all wrong for him. It happens - look at Ken Norton. He wasn’t an all time great, yet, he arguably beat Ali all three times. His style was simply all wrong and too awkward for Ali, even though Ali was a much more accomplished and decorated fighter.

 

That’s commitment as the date is still not confirmed.

 

The choices are Wembley or Saudi. Obviously Fury's deal with the Saudis is the one taking negotiation because he is selling his home advantage to them. Usyk has nothing to sell as Kyiv isn't an option so it was a take it or leave it number for him.

 

You live in a fairy world.

 

Go on then, tell us, where did you book your flight to? Saudi Arabia or London?

 

Riyadh you womble. London? It's 2023 m8.

 

That's rich coming from you fella, **** that's tickled me!

 

Great - it’s fine to have an opinion on the fight, that’s not what I’m debating. I just believe they both want it and don’t be naive enough to get caught up in the hype.

 

It was an announcement that an announcement may be announced sometime in the near future but then again may never be announced. Got it.

 

I really hope the fight poster looks good. The Holyfield-Lewis 1 poster looked sick

 

The best thing for the sport is if this fight happens and no reason to think it won't. First undisputed heavyweight king in 25 years.

 

Once again, I really couldn't care less about hype. I'm going by track record.

Everything Fury has done in the past 12 months has written "I don't need this fight" all over it. Mind you: I don't think Fury is afraid of Usyk. Not in the traditional sense of the word anyway. He is not afraid of getting hurt physically or anything like that. However, the risk/reward ratio Usyk represents is not to his liking. That's why, for example, he demanded the Whyte fight last year, even though there were advanced talks about an undisputed fight between him and Usyk. Fury pulled out, stating he needed a tune-up before Usyk. This one thing only raises several questions. Why would Fury need a tune-up? He had just beaten Wilder for the third time a few months back, there was no ring rust. Why have a tune-up before "splattering the middleweight"? And how on Earth a fight against Whyte would tune him up for a fight against Usyk anyway? And let's not forget how quickly he "retired" after the Whyte fight, making sure he wouldn't have to face Usyk as per the pre-contract they signed.

Fury has a long history of cherry-picking fights, deceiving, going back on his word etc. Long before Povetkin rattled Whyte and turned him into a chinny has-been, Fury promised he would face Whyte if the "diamond belt" was on the line too. The WBC granted his wish - only for Fury to go back on his word and never face the still dangerous and sharp version of Whyte. Or there was the thing with David Price. Despite he kept talking about beating Price, Fury never faced him, even though at the time Fury was still fighting in dingy little clubs while Price's fights were sold out in the Echo Arena. One wonders why - the money and the exposure would have him fantastic for him at that point. But he saw Price back then as dangerous so he never went for it.

So yes, Fury is VERY picky about who, when and why to fight. The only thing he cares about is money. He learnt the marketing value of an artificial 0 loss record from Mayweather, and he manages his career in the same sneaky, cynical manner, playing to the ignorance of the casuals with his triangle theories. "Who did Fighter X beat? He was beaten by Fighter Y whom I beat. What a joke, don't waste my time. Why would I fight with Fighter X for?" - as if we didn't have proof enough, especially in the HW division that styles make fights. Throughout his whole career, Fury only fought two top-rated opponents - Klitschko and Wilder. He turns 35 this year, and had 34 bouts - yet, only two top ranked opponents, and even Wilder wasn’t his pick. He had no choice, he was rebuilding his career after the PED ban. Team Wilder picked him because they thought he would be an easy fight for Wilder. Which means Fury only fought one top fighter, Klitschko throughout his career willingly as his choice. Does anybody believe that if he wanted to, he couldn’t have already fought at least a couple of the active top ranked heavies: Usyk, Joshua, Ruiz, Parker, Hrgovic, Joyce, Ortiz, Sanchez, Bakole, Makhmudov etc?

So long story short: no, I absolutely don't believe Fury wants this Usyk fight. Not at all. He never takes risks, ever since the Klitschko bout he has been a selective, sneaky businessman rather than a boxer. Maybe in 1-2 years he wants the Usyk fight when Usyk is declined or perhaps will have been beaten by someone else by then. But right now Fury is much more interested in fighting that gimmick against Ngannou than facing Usyk as he is a manipulative businessman first and foremost which is proven by his track record of the way he is managing his career.