Is Fury past his best or just 50% fit? I think Usyk would beat him easily.

Don't do this to yourself.

 

Fury Wilder 2 was him in the best shape. A total titan.

Fury takes time to "look" fit. He was fit for Whyte but he wasn't quite Wilder 2 shape or focus. His focus for Wilder 2 was unreal, only because he saw Wilder as a danger. Totally zoned in.

Hard to judge against Whyte because Fury didn't need to use his footspeed as heavily as he did for Wilder.

 

Fury looked in first gear. He basically after the first few rounds just walked away from Whyte and punched him until he saw an opportunity to throw the KO punch.

 

He was chilling.

He could have easily put more hurt on Whyte early but he kept the risk level minimum, then by the end of round 4 he knew he had Whyte.

 

Maybe past his best but maybe Usyk past his best too.

 

The inconvenient pattern is that the longer he's been with Hill, the more sluggish and easy to hit he has become.

In Wilder II he had only been with Hill for just over a month, which isn't really enough time to do much to muscle memory in real competition. But the style was already putting him in the firing line. I think that fight could have reverted to a Wilder III situation if Wilder hadn't taken that 'dent' punch early on. Fury was narrowly avoiding getting nailed from the first round there and was too heavy.

People forget how close Wilder was to decking Fury in the first and second rounds. That's why it was no surprise to me that Wilder caught him in the third fight. Fury pretended that it was the new fatso weight that gave him the punch resistance to take WIlder's bombs in the second fight. Turns out Wilder just didn't quite get the flush connection and when he did in the third fight, Fury was almost put out. The weight just made Fury a slower target.

He's just got worse from Wilder II onwards. I see no real evidence he has more power. He one-punched Cunningham and put away Abel when he sat down on punches to brawl years ago. He decked Hammer with a single punch while boxing on the backfoot. So I don't think what he did to Wilder or Whyte is much different. And he needed many rounds still to take out Wilder. Basically he's sitting down on some punches more with Hill, but it doesn't look much different to when he did that in certain fights years ago.

Hey, maybe Fury brawls Usyk like he did Cunningham and grinds him down. But Usyk is a lot better than Cunningham and he's not going to walk into uppercuts face first like Whyte just did. And if it becomes a points fight, where defence also counts, Fury could easily lose if he doesn't KO Usyk with this current style, because he'll struggle to land the power shots and he'll struggle to avoid everything coming back.

 

He didn't look great against Whyte. But then again that's often been the trait throughout his career. He all too often only does just enough to win comfortably. Maybe he's past his best or maybe again he's just fighting at 50% and we'll only see him close to 100% again when he's really motivated and driven like he was for Wlad and Wilder 2.

Fact is it says a lot about him and the current state of the division that he can fight well below his potential and still be seen as the best by many.

I do think he'll need to be far better than he looked vs Whyte and Wilder 3 to beat Usyk. Usyk like him is an exceptional talent and has rare boxing IQ, he can't treat Usyk like Wilder or Whyte. Fury will need to be close to his very best again to win.

 

Fury is either feather fisted and boring (see Fury Wlad) or he's become slow or sloppy (see Fury Whyte or Wilder II and III).

I'm having a hard time understanding how people watched Fury deal with Wlad, Wilder and Whyte to the point where they think he easily loses to Usyk.

Fury Usyk is a great fight and whoever wins will tell you it wasn't easy. These are the two most mentally strong fighters in the division. Usyk with the stamina and slight movement advantage. Fury with the size advantage. Both have great timing, both have great distancing. Fury has an advantage with rough house tactics. Both have great punch variation with Fury slightly more pop.