By Geno McGahee
The biggest fight to be made in heavyweight boxing has been made. Tyson Fury, 33-0-1, 24 KO’s, the WBC heavyweight champion, will take on the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk, 20-0, 13 KO’s, creating the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
The highly anticipated bout will, without question, sell out Wembley with Tyson Fury on the verge of making history for British boxing, but the result isn’t set in stone. On paper, Usyk seems too small to fend off the enormous Fury, but styles makes fights and this one might not be a cake walk for the big man.
Taking only 30 percent of the money, Usyk obviously has a lot of belief in his chances in this fight. He is a southpaw with good movement and is arguably quicker than Fury. Coming off back to back wins of the heavily favored, Anthony Joshua, Usyk has shown that he can handle a big heavyweight but he’s not a small man either. There’s a misconception that Usyk is a small heavyweight and compared to Fury he is, but he’s 6 foot, 3 inches in height and comes in at about 220 pounds for his heavyweight encounters. He might not be able to knock Fury out, but he hits hard enough to not be walked down and knocked out early.
Fury has been on a great run since his remarkable comeback in 2018. The Deontay Wilder trilogy is one of the best trilogies in the history of the game and he’s on a four knockout streak. His last two fights were absolute mismatches with knockout wins over Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora, but he did what he had to do, but it’s time to get back to business and take on a real challenge.
The comparison often made going into this fight is with Steve Cunningham. Cunningham, a former cruiserweight, took on the much bigger Fury and bothered him with movement and even knocked Fury down. The knockdown was a case of overconfidence mostly, but he could potentially be overconfident with Usyk too. I can see it happening a bit with Fury on such a streak and not seeing the smaller man as much of a challenge at all. I could see him looking at this fight as a mere formality and he’s going to put on a show, but that could open a path for Usyk to make it interesting.
It’s safe to say that if Deontay Wilder can’t knock you out, nobody can. Fury survived the incoming by Wilder and another monster puncher in Wladimir Klitschko and survived and conquered. Fury will be pressing forward and leaning on the smaller man, trying to get a mid-round knockout, which seems like the most likely result.
Despite Fury being the easy pick, there is one thing to consider before totally dismissing Usyk. He is a fighter of purpose. Much like George Foreman when he was taking on Michael Moorer, I think Usyk doesn’t look at the odds and just believes that he is going to win. That sort of confidence counts for something.
No matter what, this fight is only six weeks away and will be a spectacle to remember. I’m happy that it was signed and clarity will come to the heavyweight division after all these years.
