By Przemek Garczarczyk
Five years ago in Chicago, after he stopped Chazz Whiterspoon in seven, I told Oleksandr Usyk that fighting like that will not be enough to win the belt. We met again 24 hours before his quest to become first undisputed heavyweight champ in 25 years. I asked Oleksandr about our exchange from Chicago, and he answered.
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This fight will mirror Whitaker v. Vasquez, 1995. Height wise, abilities [ and forecasting ] outcome.
When I break this down I feel strongly in favor of Fury. I think some people maybe picking Usyk because they are looking at Fury’s poor outing against Ngannou in his last fight. It seems though many are overlooking that Usyk’s last performance also raised some questions. Some felt the referee gave Usyk a lot of help. While I understand that Ngannou was not an experienced boxer, I also do not feel that Usyk is anything like him. Usyk is of course a better boxer then Ngannou but not nearly as strong and powerful. So I do not see Usyk being able to do the things that Ngannou did to cause problems for Fury. However Dubois was causing Usyk problems with body shots. I think Fury can do that too! Another point is that Usyk has had some difficulty in all of his heavyweight fights. Even against Joshua…I got the feeling that at times Joshua was getting the better of Usyk with his size…he just could not sustain it and thus lost two close but fair decisions. Fury is bigger then Joshua and imo has a better gas tank then Joshua. Finally I look at their common opponent….Chisora. Usyk had a lot of problems with Chisora…especially early in the fight. He had to rally in the second half to squeeze by him. Fury in the fights I saw against Chisora handled him easily and appeared to be levels above him. I know common opponents often do not tell the tale but for me I think when making a pick it is something to think about. In summary I think Fury is just too big and will be able to use his size more effectively then the previous opponents who could not quite get it done. Hey I have been wrong before and could be wrong now but those are the reasons I am picking Fury.
Usyk handle Joe Joyce and in that first Chisora Fury fight Chisora Gave Fury hell.
Coach, you went way back my man. Whitaker/Vazquez I watched this and I have to say Usyk is not as elusive as Whitaker and Fury is way better than Vazquez. The weight classes are night and day as well. But man you took me down memory lane with this one.
I merely pointed out the height similarities, southpaw and looming expectations (?). Not comparable to talent wise. Both fights mirror the other.
I expect Usyk to triumph because he has shown long-term psychological stability, whereas, Fury has shown numerous in and out of ring instabilities.
Fury has more tools than what Vasquez had.
Not even close.
I’m just going to go out and say this. Come Sunday morning, I could look like a c*nt, but I doubt it. Fury cannot fight going backwards. Fury is physically very uncoordinated and un-athletic. Even though Fury has great awareness in the ring, and great reflexes, he is not a great boxer. His most impressive victory was against Klitschko. Watch that fight. Fury won that fight by non-boxing. He stank out the joint. But Fury is a master of judging distance. Keep a distance from Klitschko where Klitschko cannot attack. As soon as Klitschko wants to attack, take a step back. Nullify the attack. Put your hands behind your back. Show the judges that your opponent can’t touch you. Against Wilder, Fury could lumber forward and club Wilder into submission. Because wilder is a crap boxer with crap movement. Against Usyk, Fury probably knows that lumbering forward to club Usyk into submission will not work. Also, going backwards will not work, because you can’t counterpunch against a master boxer. All that remains is the distance-management herky-jerky anti-boxing that Fury employed against Klitschko. I believe Usyk’s skill and intelligence wins that fight.
Great analysis Deji. One thing to remember is that Usyk is a rhythm fighter, and once he catches the tune, he usually beats his opponent with ease. Chisora was able to have success against Usyk by disrupting the rhythm and getting Usyk fighting a style he didn’t want to fight. Eventually Usyk found his rhythm and ran away with the fight. Fury is a master of disrupting rhythm. I expect Fury to fight dirty. I will be surprised if at the end of the fight Fury doesn’t lose a point or two. Keeping Usyk out of rhythm is worth a point. Elbows, low blows, maybe even a tackle or two will keep Usyk out of sync and better Fury’s chances. I see this as a true pick-em match. 1 of 3 pick-em heavyweight matchups tonight. Crazy.