USYK VS. FURY REMATCH: REPEAT OR REVENGE?
they seemed to overlook one thing: The American is an orthodox fighter while Usyk is a southpaw, and Fury showed vulnerabilities against the only other ranked lefty he’d fought. In 2019, Fury had a much tougher than expected fight against Otto Wallin. Coming in, he was a -2500 betting favorite. Yet the Swede was able to land 127 total punches (including 55 body shots) and take Fury the distance. At the time, it was the most anybody had landed in a fight against him. Take Wilder, for example. Despite dropping Fury multiple times over their trilogy, he was never able to land more than 72 punches in any single fight. Former champion Wladimir Klitschko only landed 52 punches on Fury in their 2015 bout. The list goes on. Here’s a key stat to remember: The only opponents who have landed more than 100 punches on Fury were the two southpaws he faced, Wallin (127) and Usyk (170). Perhaps the Gypsy King has two Achilles’ heels – shorties and lefties … and Usyk just happens to be both. Speaking of the champion: How can he defend his heavyweight crown against a bulkier, seemingly hungrier, more aggressive foe? Once again, details from the first bout provide some insight.
knew that the more he let his hands go, the more opportunities he would give his giant opponent to land counters. So instead, he elected to punch less than Fury (407 total punches compared to 496), but he made his offense count more. Usyk achieved this with elite punch selection and accuracy. The Ukrainian landed nearly 42 percent of his total punches – far more accurate than any of Fury’s other notable opponents. He also landed nearly 33 percent of his jabs. Other recent Fury opponents (Wilder, Whyte, Ngannou) landed their jab at about half that rate. In fact, the only other man to land more than 25 percent of his jabs against Fury was – you guessed it – Otto Wallin, the Swedish southpaw. Defensively, the key adjustment for Usyk will be catching the uppercut. That was Fury’s best punch back in May. If the Gypsy King is going to come straight forward this time, that means Usyk needs to move laterally on the outside. He did a good job at getting angles to set up his offense during the first bout, making things awkward for the much taller Fury. But that was often with Fury backed up on the ropes – can Usyk do the same with Fury stalking him? Not only does he need to play matador to the bull, but Usyk must also land something big every now and then to keep Fury honest. That is a task much easier said than done. OUTSIDE INFLUENCES Ring officials will play a major role in the rematch as well. Most fans and media vehemently disagreed with Canadian judge Craig Metcalfe’s scorecard of the first bout. Despite Fury being dropped in the ninth and losing much of the second half of the bout, Metcalfe scored the fight for the Englishman. As mentioned above, many were displeased with American referee Mark Nelson’s performance as well, particularly in the ninth round. Was Fury “protected” a little back in May? Will he be protected again in December? Well, if the conspiracy theorists on X (formally known as Twitter) needed any fuel for their fire,
one (Francis Ngannou, 2023) went the distance. The other five were one-sided dominations from the Brit. Fury has also said in recent interviews that he will be much more aggressive this time around. He feels that he can’t win a decision against the Ukrainian. During the post-fight interview in May, Fury stated, “I believe I won that fight. But his country is at war, so people are siding with the country at war.” Most observers felt those comments were delusional, if not disrespectful. But Fury certainly believes them and will thus be going for a knockout in the second fight. On the surface, being heavier and more aggressive sounds like the perfect game plan for the Usyk rematch. After all, it certainly worked for him against Wilder. But Usyk is a completely different animal. No disrespect to the former WBC titleholder, but other than power, Usyk is levels above Wilder in every conceivable category. “The Bronze Bomber” was mostly a one-armed fighter with major defensive liabilities, and he was never adept at fighting while moving backward. Wilder was also tall, long and orthodox, which made things more comfortable for Fury, stylistically. Simply put, he could almost always see the punches coming. Meanwhile, Usyk is a shorter, craftier southpaw with perhaps the best footwork in boxing today. He fights at angles, he can counterpunch, and he showed a remarkable ability to back Fury up at times. Obviously that will be much harder to do if the Brit does indeed come in heavier for the rematch. THE X-FACTOR Much was made of the size difference between Fury and Usyk when the fight was originally signed. Fury had admitted in several interviews over the years that he did not like fighting shorter men. He even cited his 2013 bout against former cruiserweight titleholder Steve Cunningham as the most difficult of his career. Many pundits noted that Cunningham was the same height (6-foot-3) as Usyk, but
KEYS TO VICTORY: OLEKSANDR USYK
Don’t forget, only one man was knocked down back in May. Unlike Fury, Usyk proved he could hurt his opponent. An aggressive, front-footed Tyson Fury might play right into Usyk’s game plan for the rematch. Could he catch Fury coming in with one of those looping left hands? There will certainly be opportunities. Accuracy and timing will be key. For Usyk, it’s not only a question about which punches to throw against Fury, but also when and where he should throw them. SHARPSHOOTING Many expected the smaller man to be the busier fighter against Fury. But Usyk
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