Former heavyweight champ Tyson Fury is certain the better prep he has had, crucially the better sparring he has had ahead of this Saturday night’s must-win DAZN PPV rematch with Oleksandr Usyk will see him to a revenge win. Looking back on his training and preparation ahead of the May fight with Usyk, Fury says now he thinks it would have been “sensible” for him to have delayed the fight, and been hit by a massive £10 million fine.
Speaking with Sky Sports just days before his return meeting with Usyk, Fury – who had to delay the first fight with Usyk one time due to the cut eye he suffered in sparring – says that although a second delay brought about by himself would have cost him financially, it would have been the right move as he would have had more time for sparring.
“This time it’s been a lot easier,” Fury said of his training camp. “I’ve done lots of sparring and I’ve been able to train properly, whereas before it’s no secret that I didn’t do a lot of sparring, hence I had a massive bounty on my cut eye. Thinking sensible, maybe I would have pushed it back a little bit and cost myself £10 million, but it doesn’t really matter because were here now and I’m going to do the job on Saturday night.”
We will never know if additional sparring would have seen Fury to victory back in the May fight, but if Fury does get the win this time you can be sure this is what Fury and his supporters will say. In any case, both Fury and Usyk appear to be in great, no excuses shape this time (although Usyk, as we know, has never entered a fight in anything other than tip-top shape) and we are all fascinated to see what happens in Riyadh in four days’ time.
Will it be repeat or revenge? Will the better sparring, the more plentiful sparring Fury has done be enough to see him edge the fight this time? Usyk, too, will have sparred a great deal of course.
Fans are braced for another great, possibly close and fiercely contested heavyweight battle here.
Pick: I’m going Usyk, with him again winning on points.
