IBF, IBO, WBC, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles: Tyson Fury (34-0-1) v Oleksandr Usyk (21-0) (Saturday, DAZN, TNT Box Office, Sky Sports Box Office, from 5pm, main event scheduled for 11.05pm)
HOW can Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury? Fury, who has come a long way since he beat Martin Rogan in Belfast 12 years ago to win the Irish heavyweight title, is five inches taller and will be almost three-stone heavier when Ukraine’s champion gets in the ring with him.
Throw the other ingredients into the mix: Fury is an unorthodox, switch-hitting and brilliant boxer, he’s athletic, he can punch and, as he has shown time and time again, he’ll keep getting back up if you put him down. Love him or loathe him, Fury is a phenomenal fighter.
Usyk is phenomenal too of course but he was once a cruiserweight and in this elite level fight – which will see the crowning of the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the world since Lennox Lewis 25 years ago – size matters.
Speed matters as well and that is where Usyk does hold an advantage – but it is enough to tip the balance in his favour? He won’t run but he will stay mobile in a fighting retreat to prevent Fury from leaning and holding and draining his strength. He will need to be courageous too and his timing will have to be perfect when he decides to pick his moments to go on the front foot and unload on Fury’s granite head.
Fury’s dad John did enough talking for both of them earlier this week and Tyson didn’t have much to say at the press conference on Thursday when he opted not to look Usyk in the eye in the face-off.
“I’m ready for a good fight – if it’s tough or easy, either way I’ll be ready,” he said.
“I’ll say a prayer for him before we walk out that we both get out of the ring in one piece and go home to our families.”
His poor performance against Francis Ngannou last October might have been the perfect wake-up call for Fury. He looked complacent and didn’t convince anyone he had trained properly but he has looked in terrific shape this week and we could see a career best from him on Saturday night.
If that is the case, will it be too much for Usyk? The Ukrainian is so light on his feet for such a big man but he will have to box out of his skin to win a fight his coach says he has been preparing for since 2018.
“It will be the most difficult night of Fury’s life,” he predicted.
To lose Fury has to get the tactics wrong but his coach Sugar Hill Steward – whose famous uncle Emmanuel was in Lennox Lewis’s corner when he became the undisputed heavyweight champion a quarter-of-a-century ago – predicts it doesn’t go the distance.
“It’ll be a great fight,” he said.
“The ultimate fight… I’m going with my fighter Tyson Fury 100 per cent for the knockout.”
The world has changed since Lewis held all the belts 25 years ago but the heavyweight championship of the world will always be one of the greatest prizes in sport.
Can Usyk find a way to win? He’ll need to make constant variations, create angles and control the distance carefully to open gaps in Fury’s defence to do so. His skills were too slick for Anthony Joshua who is a bigger puncher than Fury but he’ll have to run the gauntlet to find Fury’s chin and can he sustain that over 12 rounds? Either way, it’s all set to be a fight for the ages and, although The ‘Gypsy King’ starts favourite, don’t take your eye off it.
