How big a role will height really play in a possible Fury vs. Usyk fight?

Height no, but weight possibly.

Usyk is fast enough of feet and fists to get to Fury, problem he'll have is when Fury man handles him. Hard to slip a punch when your opponents arm is pushing you off, leaning down on you or wrapped around your neck. Fury's ability to manipulate and control the smaller man may take away Usyk's advantages in speed and movement as he's physically prevented in getting into the positions he needs to land.

Remember how Salido's rough house tactics beat Loma early on in his pro career those same physically rough tactics could see Usyk similarly stifled and unable to do what he does best.

 

Footspeed, stamina and reach might be more important.
Fury has to pin Usyk down and bully him to win. Doing what AJ did letting Usyk use accentuated upper body movement and trying to outbox him isn't going to work.

 

I understand what you are saying about but I don't think this tactics will work well against Usyk. Yes, we saw it before in Lewis' and Wlad's fights when they smothered smaller opponents in clinches and tired them, but those guys were aggressive fighters who came forward (Tyson, Holyfield, Povetkin, Peter etc.), not movers like Usyk. In fact, Wlad didn't use a lot of clinches against Ibragimov who was a good mover. Fight was boring as hell, but it wasn't filled with clinches. I think Wlad would gladly do it to Sultan to tire him, but he just couldn't do it because Sultan was out of position to take him in clinch. Yeah, I know Usyk will need to be more aggressive than Sultan was to score the victory, so Fury may have moderate success in trying to catch him and put all his weight in clinch. But it will be FAR more harder for him to do than it was in Wilder fights.

 

Nothing. Fury has a huge body to punch up. Weight will be a massive factor though If Fury uses that.

However, Usyk knows this already. He's too smart for Fury.

 

You know what will play major role if they ever fight ? Speed and movement.

 

Not as big of a role as the shape Fury is in.

 

Height and weight, when combined with Fury’s skill set, make him an almost impossible puzzle to crack. His versatility will be the key, he has more styles and ways to win.

 

there will be adjustments made from either fighter when they fight

 

It would be an interesting fight. Fury won't be able to lean on Usyk because Usyk will be dancing circles around him. Fury will need to box him.

Fury could lean on and push Wilder around because Wilder is a stiff boxer who does not move well.

 

I think having to fight a southpaw who is good on his feet like Usyk will play a bigger role than height and weight.

Otto Wallin gave Fury alot of problems and he is nowhere near as quick or tricky as Usyk.

If Usyk can land and get out of the way, not allow Fury to lean on him he can definitely win this fight. This is where weight could play anything is if Usyk stays in the pocket and tries fighting it out with Fury.

 

I think your right for a prime Fury but his last fight he was static getting tagged a lot more than we had seen in the first two Wilder fights.

If he's not in shape Usyk's foot speed upper body movement and ability to pour it on later in the fight will be a big issue.

No ones impossible to beat and Fury only just scraped through Wilder after bossing him in the second fight.

Fury has been vulnerable many times in his career and manged to grit it out but he hasn't been in with anyone as remotely skilled as Usyk.

I'm quite happy to put money on Usyk unless I see a drastic change in Fury's behaviour.

I'm not even convinced at this point the fight will happen at all. I will only get excited when they both get in the ring remembering Fury is an unreliable variable at the best of times.

 

Can Usyk fight two men whilst having a fridge on top of him? I doubt it.

Watch a younger fitter Usyk against Joyce and understand that Tyson Fury is out there. He can't be reasoned with, He can't be bargained with. He doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear and He absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until he is victorious.

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Negligible imo.

If Fury can stick and move and keep Usyk at length he wins. If he can't he loses.

 

Lewis and Wlad did indeed use those tactics to smother aggressive fighters looking to get inside and yes that clearly isn't Usyk who showed against Joshua that he can make taller heavies lead, give up their reach and then counter. But Fury doesn't really use his man handling skills like they did as he's more elusive than either Wlad or Lewis were due to a combination of even greater height and also superior head movement. Fury instead uses these tactics to usually walk down and catch his opponents, backing them up and trying to physically dominate them like in his fights vs Wilder, Cunningham and late in the Wallin fight.

But of course as you say Usyk is far more slick and moves far better and he might very well use Fury's aggression against him as he's such a great counter puncher, making Fury give up his reach like he did vs Joshua, but I still wonder how he'll deal with the physicality of Fury when they are up close, can Usyk slip away like some magician or will he get mauled and worn down? It's a fight that for me is far more appealing than Fury/Joshua or Joshua/Uysk it's the two best ring IQ's at heavyweight going head to head and that excites me more than any other match up at heavyweight.