Oleksandr Usyk made history when he became the undisputed champion back in May. His victory over Tyson Fury across 12 hard-fought rounds made him only the second man to be undisputed at both cruiserweight and then go on to do the same thing up at heavyweight, with Evander Holyfield the only other fighter to do it. He is also in rare company amongst men who have been undisputed in more than one division in the four belt era – with only Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford also achieving that feat.
However, in order to honour the contracted rematch with Fury, which takes place in December in Saudi Arabia, Usyk was forced to vacate his IBF belt instead of facing his mandatory from that organisation. Usyk has finally given his reaction to having to relinquish one of his belts, asked in an interview with New Voice if it was fair on the Brit, who will now not get the immediate chance to become undisputed.
“There is no honest or dishonest answer here. Everything here is professional. We could fight and keep this belt, but I still had to protect it against Dubois or Anthony Joshua, I don’t remember who was next. We play the way it should be.”
It means whoever wins in December will hope to go into a bout with the winner of Anthony Joshua versus Daniel Dubois, who fight for the IBF belt this weekend, to once again unify all four major titles as well as the lineal and Ring Magazine honours.
Fury’s Potential Pull Out
Oleksandr Usyk has issued a clear warning to Tyson Fury, cautioning him that he stands to lose out on another multi-million-pound payday if he withdraws from their scheduled rematch. Usyk, who became boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion in two decades in May, says that Tyson Fury will have a lot on the line in their rematch — even if the ‘Gypsy King’ doesn’t currently hold any belts. The fight comes a year after both men were tentatively expected to meet in the ring, though that fight was delayed until February following Fury’s razor-thin win over former UFC champion Francis Ngannou the previous October — while the February date, for which contracts were signed, was delayed to the following May after Fury sustained a large gash to his eyebrow in preparation.
But this time around, Usyk isn’t concerned over any potential delays to his second fight with the giant Fury.
“No way, because the ball’s in our court now. He has a contract and so do I. Until December 31, we have to hold this fight up to and including [that date]. I really like the fact that we are preparing for December 21. It’s a good date, a good month,” Uysk said.
Furthermore, Usyk stated that there will be a financial penalty for Fury should he fail to make the agreed window. But even more than that, Usyk said that not making the ring in December in the Middle East would reflect poorly on Fury’s character.
“If he pulls out on December 21, he’ll lose all his dividends and money,” Usyk said, “and [he] won’t remain a man of his word anymore.”
Chisora’s Prediction
Derek Chisora thinks Tyson Fury will get knocked out when he rematches Oleksandr Usyk. Derek Chisora knows what it takes to get in the ring with both Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, and he’s backing the former to defeat Fury for a second time later this year. Usyk and Fury will meet in a huge rematch on December 21 following an action-packed encounter back in May when Usyk hurt Fury in round nine before winning on the scorecards to become undisputed heavyweight champion. Chisora, who has lost three times to Fury as well enduring a setback against Usyk, is perhaps best qualified to talk on their upcoming encounter. The former world title challenger, a fighter with plenty of experience, has seen both fighters up close, and he’s giving the nod to Usyk ahead of their sequel at the backend of the year.
“I think Usyk stops him this time. Him and SugarHill Steward, that relationship is kind of dying down,” said Chisora when speaking to Talksport.
“Because when they got together, they were listening to each other. They were all in panic. It was not because there was loads of voices, they were all in panic.
“They knew they were losing the fight, so they figured they had to start saying something because he was not listening to SugarHill, and he was not listening to his dad.”
The Reasons For Chisora’s Prediction
Dereck Chisora predicts Tyson Fury will be knocked out in his rematch with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st in Riyadh. The veteran Chisora feels that Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) has gotten old, can’t move like he once did a decade ago, and doesn’t have the youth to defeat Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in their rematch. Although the 37-year-old Usyk is a year older than the 36-year-old Fury, he’s much more youthful, spry, and battle-ready than the’ Gyspy King.’
Many fans believe Fury should have been knocked out in his previous fight against Usyk on May 18th, but was saved by the referee on duty that night. Usyk will have learned from that fight and will hammer the living daylights out of Fury with nonstop punches. This time, the referee won’t step in to give a standing eight count to save Fury.
“I don’t think so. I think Usyk stops him this time,” said Dereck Chisora to the talkSport site, when asked if Tyson Fury can avenge his loss to Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch on December 21st.
“That relationship is dying down because when he got with Sugarhill [Steward], they were listening to each other, and now it’s not,” said Chisora, saying things are not going well with Fury and his trainer Sugarhill Steward.
In hindsight, Fury should have dumped Sugarhill after his fight against Francis Ngannou last October because it was clear from that match that the limited bag of tricks that the Kronk gym-trained American taught him was no longer practical. Fighters had figured out how to solve that simple mauling approach that Sugarhill taught Fury.
“It’s not the legs. It’s called getting old,” said Chisora about Fury not being able to move like he did when he fought Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Fury is an old 36, and he’s been unable to move around the ring the way he once did since his rematch with Deontay Wilder in February 2020. Since then, Fury has used the Sugarhill method of leaning and mauling his opponents.
At this point, it’s unrealistic to hope for Fury to return to the mobile fighter he once was when he defeated Klitschko. Like many chunky, older heavyweights, Fury is now a human slug, using his size to latch onto his opponents and lean.
When Fury tried that method against Usyk, it didn’t work, nor was it effective against the powerful former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
Fury has gotten away from the mobile fighter he’d been throughout his career, and that stationary style is now causing him problems. We’ve seen that in his last two fights against Usyk and Ngannou.
Can Fury Turn It Around?
The Ukrainian beat the Gypsy King on points in May to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion, coming back from a rocky few rounds in the middle of the fight to finish strongly. A rematch has been scheduled for December 21, with the contract for the fight expiring on December 31. The bout has been pushed back to allow the two boxers to recover from their various facial injuries. The shot at redemption for the Brit is expected to take place in Saudi Arabia once again and Fury has been spotted taking part in some unusual training exercises, including karate kicking a bag.
But rumours have been circling that the 36-year-old might be planning to withdraw from the bout with Usyk now giving his thoughts on the speculation in an interview with Ready to Fight. He said: 'No way - because the ball's in our court now. He has a contract and so do I until December 31; we have to hold this fight up to and including then. If he pulls out December 21, he will lose all of his money and dividends and won't be a man of his word anymore. Now we have started, we're going to the training camp.'
Usyk almost put Fury away in the ninth round of an absorbing fight, rocking the Brit with a flurry of 14 unanswered punches which left his opponent leaning on the ropes for support. The Gypsy King somehow survived the onslaught and made it to the end of the fight but the Ukrainian thinks he can learn from the first bout and perform even better in the rematch.
'From the last fight with Tyson Fury, I learned a lot about him, a lot of the things that I saw in the fight I didn't see on TV with all the fights that I saw of Tyson Fury. So we will prepare even better and God willing, with God's victory, we will show our best shape again. I have incredible motivation. I'm often told that I've done everything, what is next, there is nothing further. But we just work every day, every day is a new day.'
Fury's unusual karate-themed training, itself a leaf out of the Usky book of weird and wonderful exercises, was at least a step in the right direction after he was previously spotted on a big night out at Cibo Restaurant in Wilmslow. He will need to be at his best to overturn May's defeat, which saw the scorecards reflect the competitiveness of the contest: one judge scored it 114-113 in Fury's favor, but the other two awarded it to Usyk, 115-112 and 114-113, giving him the split decision victory.
Usyk's triumph not only marked Fury's first professional loss, dropping his record to 33-1-1, but also solidified Usyk's place in history as the first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion. The Gypsy King, however, was adamant post-fight that he believed he had won, citing that he controlled the majority of the rounds.
