Tyson Fury will fight Oleksandr Usyk with all the heavyweight titles on the line – but one of the Ukrainian’s previous opponents is concerned for the ‘Gypsy King’
Tony Bellew has shared his concerns for Tyson Fury ahead of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk. The pair are due to face off in May in a historic battle with all the heavyweight title belts on the line.
Both Usyk and the ‘Gypsy King’ will also put their undefeated records on the line at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia. As the boxing world prepares for this titanic bout, Bellew, who retired in 2018, is confident that Usyk, the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO champion, will claim victory.
“On the technical side of things, Tyson Fury has always struggled with smaller movers and is horrendous when it comes to counter-punchers,” Bellew told Spinbet. “If you go on the backfoot against Fury, he is lost.” Despite being the smaller and shorter man in the fight, Bellew thinks Usyk has the ideal style to cause Fury problems.
Bellew, who ended his career with a defeat to Usyk, used Francis Ngannou as an example to illustrate how the 35-year-old could struggle. When competing in his very first boxing match in October 2023, the Cameroonian dropped Fury and gave him problems throughout their encounter.
Bellew then elaborated on the keys to Ngannou’s performance which he thinks Usyk can utilise to end Fury’s undefeated streak. “A complete boxing novice Francis Ngannou went on the backfoot against Fury and caused him all kinds of problems,” he added. And I mean a raw, complete novice in Francis Ngannou.
This fight was originally scheduled for February, but the WBC Heavyweight champion pulled out after sustaining a nasty cut above his eye while sparring. Now Krassyuk is unsure it will happen this time, let alone a rematch which is part of the contract.
“Theoretically, the rematch should happen before the end of 2024,” he told World Boxing News. “And after he loses to Usyk in the first bout, you cannot predict his behaviour at all.
“I say this, but I have no guarantee that the first fight ever takes place. The man has withdrawn four times in a row already. We have even decided to stop all the jokes and criticisms towards Luke to support his confidence. So, if there is anything else we can do to help him get in the ring with Usyk, we are ready to do that.”
