In a few days, Tyson Fury will have the chance to take revenge on Oleksandr Usyk for the only defeat of his boxing career. However, one promoter doesn’t really believe that the “Gypsy Kings” will win.
Eddie Hearn told “talkSPORT” that it would be difficult to “with a clear head” bet on Fury winning the second part of the heavyweight rivalry.
As with the first duel in May, he is expecting an “incredibly close fight,” said Anthony Joshua’s promoter. “But I just think that what we saw from Usyk in the first fight, his ability to process information – I think it’s very difficult to bet against him,” Hearn said.
However, the 45-year-old said he would like his British compatriot to win. “I think he’s capable of it. He’s going to have to do something extraordinary, something we haven’t seen him do before.”
Boxing: Aggressiveness “plays into Usyk’s hands”
Usyk narrowly beat Fury on points in a high-class fight over twelve rounds in Riyadh on May 18th. The Ukrainian was crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. The revenge will take place on December 21st – again in the Saudi capital.
“Usyk deserves so much more credit for what he did in the first fight,” said Hearn, praising the world champion’s performance. The 37-year-old sometimes “beat up and pushed back a guy who is 2.06 meters tall and weighs around 120 kilograms.”
The promoter admitted that he did not believe Usyk could achieve such a feat. “The problem that Tyson Fury has now – what are you doing differently in this fight? Okay, maybe be more aggressive. When AJ lost to Usyk it was like, ‘You weren’t aggressive enough, you have to face him, you’re the bigger one .’ This is all complete rubbish,” explained Hearn.
An extremely offensive approach “will play so much more into Oleksandr Usyk’s hands,” said the 45-year-old. “He’s a classic counter-puncher. He wants you to be aggressive, he wants you to rush in, he wants you to take risks, he wants you to make mistakes.”
Fury must try to change something. “The problem is that Usyk adapts to all styles, he adapts to all situations. He is very, very difficult to beat in that regard.”