Tyson Fury left Oleksandr Usyk’s legs “all over the place” after a seventh-round attack and he knows how to “hurt” him again in the rematch, says promoter Frank Warren.
Furyk lost his WBC heavyweight world title to Usyk in Saudi Arabia, the first defeat of his professional career. The Ukrainian became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and the first in the four-belt era.
Usyk – who has since relinquished the IBF belt – emerged victorious by a split decision after a close fight in May, although Warren believes he saw enough in the first fight to believe Fury will win on December 21st can take revenge at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
“I thought he was in the seventh round of that fight [Fury] caught him [Usyk] with a huge upper cut and I thought he would stop him in the next round,” admitted Warren. “But in the next round Usyk came out and caught Tyson with a good shot on the nose.”
“Tyson lost a lot of momentum, he kept touching his nose and his eyes, and that was the turning point in the fight. In the next round, Tyson was in trouble, but Usyk couldn’t finish the job. “Tyson got through it” and was even able to get a win in the final round.
“It was a battle of two halves. He [Tyson] knows what he has to do, can he do it? He’s had some tough fights, and so has Usyk now.
“Usyk has shown he can get hurt – I mentioned the seventh round where his legs were all over the place when he got caught – and we know he doesn’t like the body thing. Tyson knows that now, so we’ll see it now if they can put their respective game plans into action and execute.”
“Special” rematch is coming for Usyk and Fury
Fury was the favorite to win before being beaten in the previous encounter, also held in Saudi Arabia. Warren expects another exciting fight when the heavyweight pairs meet in the rematch.
“We expect an incredible fight,” Warren added. “It will be special. It [the original contest] was a great fight. For me it was the best fight of the 21st century at this level.
“Two undefeated fighters, we finally have a unified champion, and it was a split decision from the judges. Some people thought Tyson had won, others obviously went for Usyk, and a few respected people – like Thomas Hauser – thought it was a draw.
“We’ll find out on December 21st because obviously they’ve shared the ring together, they’ve seen strengths and weaknesses as close as possible and we’ll see who they think can exploit those weaknesses.”
Fury has confirmed he will maintain his training squad, although procedures may change on fight night after the previous bout raised questions about whether his cornermen’s instructions were clear enough.
“I spoke to Tyson about it,” Warren explained. “Tyson is no fool, he is a very sensible guy, he knows boxing from the ground up, knows what to do and he will make it happen.”
“Of course you don’t want there to be a lot of voices in your corner, but you have to understand that it was his father who was in the corner with him. He wanted his father to be in the corner, and his father is worried about his son.” , especially when he was injured in the ninth round, emotions prevail.
“But you know what, a corner can’t be emotional. She needs to be cool, calm and collected. And I’m sure that will be the case next time.”
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