British heavyweight Derek Chisora expects WBC champion Tyson Fury to attack IBF/WBA/WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk’s body while in the clinch on Saturday night.
Fury’s Body Shot Strategy
The 6’9″ Fury isn’t going to want to attack Usyk’s body and risk getting hit when he’s standing apart from him.
In other words, we might see Fury resort to holding and hitting to land body shots on Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), which is normally illegal. However, many referees tend to ignore enforcing the rule. They’re usually just focusing on preventing low blows.
Hopefully, Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) will keep it clean on Saturday night and not resort to dirty tactics to try to defeat Usyk. It will look bad if he does, and it will look bad if he uses those methods to try to defeat the unified champion in their undisputed championship at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Chisora’s Insights on Fury’s Tactics
“I think we’ve seen that, and I don’t think he’s corrected that in the last year. Yes, Tyson would, but I think Tyson is going to target Oleksandr’s eye,” said Derek Chisora to BoxNation when asked if Oleksandr Usyk is vulnerable to the body in his fight against Tyson Fury on Saturday night.
Usyk was hurt to the body in his last fight against Daniel Dubois last August in Poland, but it was a borderline shot that the referee ruled was a low blow. Dubois is a much bigger puncher than Fury, and the shot that he hit Usyk with caught him at the perfect time.
Afterward, Dubois was hurt when he attempted to go to the body of Usyk again and was quickly knocked out in the ninth round.
“If Tyson goes to the body, he’s going to have to come down now, and I don’t think he’s going to want to come down. He’s going to try and hit the body while he’s in the clinch. That’s what he’s going to try and do,” Chisora said about Fury.
Usyk’s Unpredictable Approach
Usyk probably won’t focus on attacking Fury’s recently cut eye because that would make him predictable, and he doesn’t operate that way. He’s more likely to mix his punches up, and try and box his way to a decision. If Fury’s cut opens up along the way, so be it, but Usyk won’t go out of his way to target the area.
