He is no longer “Belly”. Fury is seriously preparing for Usyk and is visually in the best shape in recent years

January is coming to an end, but there is still no clarity regarding a heavyweight unification bout between WBC world champion Tyson Fury and WBA/WBO/IBF belt holder Oleksandr Usyk. It was originally planned that the date and place of the most long-awaited fight in the division for the last almost 30 years would be announced before the New Year (which we, in fact, doubted).

But so far, apart from the usual phrases, that everything has already been agreed and it’s only a matter of choosing offers from those who want to accept the fight, there is no news. And then there is the mutual picking of boxers in social networks. The Ukrainian calls the Briton Puz, Fury Usyk – the middleweight, with whom he can easily cope not only due to his skills, but also to the mass. However, judging by the appearance of the Gypsy King, he is seriously preparing for a confrontation with Usyk and plans to rely on physical strength in a hypothetical duel by no means or not only.

Mind Games by Fury

Tyson Fury’s understandable and traditional statements about power and mass were also picked up by the father of the Gypsy King. “You have to be under two meters tall, have 120 kilograms of muscle and a heart the size of your body. If you don’t have these things, don’t mess with the Gypsy King. Usyk is a good techie, a good little boxer, but Tyson is a good big boxer who can do everything better than him, ”said John Fury, repeating the statements of almost all experts and specialists in boxing. However, Fury and his team’s statements seem to be part of one big fight plan that the Briton takes very seriously.

In any case, Tyson looks very lean, as if for himself, and definitely much leaner than in his recent fights, including the last one, against Chisora.

We have repeatedly noted Fury’s boxing intelligence and his understanding of boxing. It seems that he is well aware that physical strength alone, or rather, relying only on this component in a duel with Usyk, will not be enough. Moreover, it is possible that Fury is considering the possibility of partially playing with the Ukrainian “on his territory”, offering fast and smart boxing. In any case, even in cruisers, a similar trick, of course, taking into account stylistic features, was offered to Usyk by Mchuna and Hunter, giving the Ukrainian certain and, it seems, even greater problems than Joshua.

Gypsy tricks of the British

If you focus only on media reports and social networks of the Gypsy King, one gets the impression that training is by no means the Briton’s favorite pastime. Yes, he did incredible things, returning to form in a few months and dropping tens of kilograms. However, this happened before fights with opponents who were obviously inferior to the British in class.

At the same time, to keep the optimal shape for a long time, observing the sports regimen, Fury never loved or did not want to. But he did this only in those cases when he set himself a global task: for example, before the first fight with Wilder, preparing for which the Gypsy King fought two fights against medium ones, at least at that time, Seferi and Wallina for two months. But for the duel with Wilder Fury came out already in optimal shape.

It seems that we see something similar now. When, after the next victory of the Gypsy King over Wilder, it seemed that nothing would interfere with the Fury-Usyk duel. However, Tyson again put little tricks into action, setting almost impossible conditions for the Ukrainian team – to enter the ring three months after the rematch with Joshua. And this is taking into account Usyk’s preparation, crumpled from the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.

Therefore, Fury’s team insists on organizing a fight with Usyk or any other money fight in the near future. It seems that Fury, who does not stop training, is back in optimal shape, and this is the factor that needs to be used. Hence the desire to fight Usyk as soon as possible and the recent statement of Fury himself about his readiness to fight in the ring with UFC champion Francis Nganu, who did not renew his contract with Dana White’s organization.

Lessons from Klitschko

It has been said more than once that Fury managed, in boxing slang, to “get into the head” of Wladimir Klitschko, which, in fact, predetermined the defeat of the Ukrainian. Almost eight years ago, the Briton outplayed the Ukrainian on his field, having won a mental victory over a boxer who was not inferior to him in skills, and perhaps even surpassed him in experience and power. It is likely that, realizing that he would not be able to pull off such a trick for the second time, so that no one would say, Klitschko Jr. knew how to draw conclusions from failures, Fury wrecked revenge in every possible way, and then completely abandoned it, announcing his retirement from boxing.

The victory over Klitschko was not just a door to the elite for the Gypsy King, it lifted him to the top of professional boxing. A win against Usyk and a hypothetical absolute championship would put the Gypsy King on a par with the best fighters in boxing history. Realizing this, Fury really puts everything on the line and uses all the tactical and mental tricks to win. Tyson is now far from Puzo. And, I think Usyk’s team understands this very well.