Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will face off in an undisputed heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia on May 18, live on TNT Sports Box Office. Ahead of the showdown, George Groves, Carl Froch and Fabio Wardley have given their views on the fighters and how they think the contest might play out. Froch says “Fury is going to struggle to land clean and that will be a problem for him”.
George Groves believes the “best version of Tyson Fury has been and gone” and thinks Oleksandr Usyk is the favourite for their undisputed heavyweight fight.
Fury and Usyk will meet in Saudi Arabia on May 18, live on TNT Sports Box Office, in a highly-anticipated contest.
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Both fighters are undefeated in their professional careers, but former super-middleweight champion Groves has questions about Fury’s recent form.
Since the start of 2022 the 35-year-old has beaten Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora, while his most recent fight was a controversial split-decision win over former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
“I think the best version of Tyson Fury has been and gone,” said Groves on The Breakdown on TNT Sports.
“In the last couple of years he had the win against Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora but they weren’t as competitive as this fight. Against Ngannou he was awful and was fortunate to get the win. That’s going to be tough to come back from.
“If I am Fury and I have to pick my feet up and match the foot speed of Usyk that is a tough job. Being able to compete with the punch output of Usyk, who goes through the gears throughout the fight, that’s a hard thing to do. He is calm and composed. He knows it is a 12-round fight and can build into the fight.
“I would rather be Usyk coming into this fight than Fury. He has a better chance and is in better form. I think Usyk is the favourite.”
Carl Froch thinks Usyk’s “intelligence and ring craft” could give him the edge against Fury in the fight live on TNT Sports Box Office.
“Usyk has got the tougher job to do, he’s shorter in height, not got as long a reach, but I think Tyson Fury is going to struggle to land clean and that will be a problem for him and the difference,” said the former super-middleweight champion.
“He might try and be a bit smarter because he’s not physically as capable as he was back in that second fight with Wilder. But he’s getting on, he’s slowing down, the sharpness and reflexes go, I think it’s catching up with him.
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“Usyk is 37 but he has the ability to have a couple of close rounds and then say ‘right I say struggled here’, and he goes back to his corner and then puts it on and gets behind more feints, more footwork, more aggression with the body language. I think he will do that with Fury and won’t allow Fury to lean on him and bully him.”
Usyk was last in action in August 2023 when he beat Daniel Dubois.
That fight was not without incident as Usyk was floored by a shot from Dubois that was ruled to be a low blow.