Usik – Fury. Who has better sparring partners?

Before the scheduled February 17 heavyweight unification bout between WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO world champion Alexander Usik and WBC title holder Tyson Fury three weeks left. According to the established rules of training camps before large-scale fights, within a week or a week and a half boxers will stop sparring, and after two weeks they will complete an active training camp, focusing on media events and maintaining peak shape. 20 days before the fight Usik – Fury decided to evaluate which of the champions had cooler sparring partners.

Difficulty of choice

Let’s start with the main thing. Usik and Fury are such versatile boxers with the highest IQ that finding sparring partners who were similar in style to them is a very difficult task, if not impossible. Yes, in principle, the trump cards of Usik and Fury are known. The Ukrainian has speed, footwork, the ability to change the direction and rhythm of attacks. The Briton has a sense of distance, variability during the fight, the ability to adapt to an opponent and, of course, dimensions that turn his clinch into a very formidable weapon.

But the fact of the matter is that there are only a few such boxers. Plus, Usyk and Fury are so unpredictable that it may turn out that the chosen fight plan and, accordingly, preparation will stop working from the first round. And if so, you have to build on the well-known introductory factors – anthropometry, arm span, at least a slightly similar style or the ability to work according to instructions.

Another important point: it often happens that boxers do not show all their sparring partners, so that the opposing team is not able to get the most complete picture of the work in the training camp. Therefore, we will proceed from the known inputs.

Fury’s dilemma

Fury is significantly superior to Usik in anthropometry (height 206 cm versus 191 cm), arm span (216 cm versus 198 cm) and weight. Fury has more experience – 35 fights to 21, and he is two years younger.

On the other hand, it is unlikely that the Gypsy King will be able to maintain the Ukrainian’s pace throughout the entire 12 rounds, despite his lightness on his feet and tame speed. Plus, as we saw with Fury’s fight with Ngannou, relatively short opponents can cause problems for the Briton (despite Tyson’s attitude towards the fight against the Cameroonian). At the same time, Usyk, looking at two fights with Joshua, did not experience any problems with large fighters. So, looking at the choice of sparring partners of the Gypsy King, everything seems obvious: youth (hence speed and endurance), relatively short stature and experience.

Six boxers helped prepare for the fight with Usik Fury. The average age of the sparring partners was 28 years, height – 190 centimeters (almost the ideal model of a Ukrainian). Between the six of them, they had 109 fights in the professional ring (105 victories, 78 early, 4 defeats). Among them is one world champion, and they all had two title fights.

Jai Opetaya (28 years old, 188 cm), Kevin Leren (31 years old, 185 cm), Agron Smakichi (33 years old, 198 cm), Moses Itauma (19 years old, 185 cm), Elvir Sendro (29) helped prepare for the fight with Usyk Fury. years old, 194 cm) and Alexis Barriere (28 years old, 193 cm).

The most titled in the team is Jay Opetaya, who held the IBF cruiserweight title, with 24 victorious fights and no defeats. The most experienced is Kevin Lerena – 32 fights in the pro ring (30 wins). The last three – Ituma, Sendro and Barriere – have not yet known the bitterness of defeat.

Usik’s problem

As mentioned above, imitating Fury is incredibly difficult, given the Briton’s boxing skills, ability to box in different stances and unpredictability. Hence, most likely, the primary task is to select the type of sparring partner averaged by the anthropometry of a British person. At the same time, if Fury was helped by six boxers, then currently eight sparring partners of Usik are known.

In principle, the selection criteria were known before: left-handed, height 200-210 cm, arm span 200-216 cm, from 79.5 kg. Over the course of two weeks, Usik’s team reviewed about 50 candidates who expressed a desire to work in the Ukrainian’s camp and met the basic criteria. Stopping at eight.

The average age of the boxers who helped Usik is 31.4 years. Average height is 202 centimeters. In all, they had 88 fights (72 victories, 43 early, 15 defeats, a draw). There are no world champions among them, and all of them have two title fights (including a fight for the WBC Silver title).

Vladimir Katsuk (35 years old, height 206 cm), Mariusz Wach (44 years old, 202 cm), Sanel Hasanovic (25 years old, 204 cm), Ruan Visser (33 years old, 207 cm), Emmanuel Odiase (25 years, 190 cm), Darren Sealy (32 years, 206 cm), Daniel Lapin (26 years, 198 cm).

The most experienced in the team is Mariusz Wach. The Pole had 48 fights in the professional ring and fought twice in championship matches. Odiase and Seeley have two fights each in the professional ring, Katsuka has six. At the same time, out of eight boxers, only two – Lapin and Seeley – did not lose as professionals.