Ahead of his crunch, must-win return fight with Oleksandr Usyk, former heavyweight champ Tyson Fury was asked to name his career-toughest ring foe. Speaking on a promotion to hype a new video game, 36-year-old Fury might have been expected to name Oleksandr Usyk as his most testing opponent, seeing as how Usyk is the only man to have beaten Fury in the pro ranks.
Instead, however, Fury said Deontay Wilder when asked who his toughest opponent has been.
“I’m gonna have to say Wilder,” Fury said. “When I fought Wilder he was in his prime, he was the man to beat and he was a dynamite puncher. One mistake, and it’s over in any round, round one, or round 12. He was always my target, but I used to look at him and think, ‘Wow.’ I’d see him hit people, and their legs would be shaking, out cold on the floor. They’re terrifying knockouts. The highlight reel knockouts that he has are up there with anybody’s, if not the best.”
Okay, maybe Wilder is the hardest puncher Fury has faced to date, but when it comes to being a truly great fighter, there is more than just hitting hard. Usyk, surely, is a far superior overall fighter than Wilder, who had a lethal right hand but, the critics say, not too much else. Fans may feel Fury has, as the saying goes, ‘dined out’ on his two (really three, the draw a Fury win in the opinion of most) wins over Wilder for too long, that his legacy needs more muscle, that he needs to hold wins over further elite fighters if he’s to go down as a great.
And, of course, a win over Usyk, a revenge win, would absolutely rank as Fury’s biggest, most important win. Deep down, Fury surely knows this himself. Usyk outfought Fury, and the skilled southpaw also out-thought him. Wilder was dangerous at all times, but once Fury knew he could push him back, the fight was won. It will take a heck of a lot more than pushing Usyk back to defeat him. And Fury knows this, too.
Can Fury beat Usyk, or has the Ukrainian got his number? Fury seems unable to give Usyk too much credit, and this could be a sign of Fury being in some state of denial as far as how good Usyk is and how comprehensively he defeated him back in May. Yes, on the official cards, it was a close fight, but Usyk won eight, maybe nine rounds on some unofficial cards. Who can forget the absolute hammering Usyk gave Fury in that ninth round? Usyk, in that torrid session, may well have hurt Fury more than Wilder ever did in three fights combined. But only Fury knows how badly he was hurt in each of those three fights – Wilder I, Wilder III, and Usyk.
Will Fury be giving Usyk his full respect after December 21st has been and gone, whatever the result of the rematch in Riyadh?
