The former two-division world champion, now boxing analyst, Andre Ward, has revealed his pick in a potential Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk unification bout.
Andre Ward retired from boxing with a perfect record of 32 wins from 32 fights. The American ruled at both Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight and is regarded as one of the best of his generation.
To British fans, Ward is best know for the masterclass he put on against Carl Froch in 2011 to win the Super Six tournament and take ‘The Cobra’s’ WBC Super Middleweight title.
With all the talk of a possible Heavyweight unification fight before the year is out, a video has resurfaced of Ward speaking to Behind the Gloves about a potential Fury-Usyk showdown.
When asked how that fight plays out, the hall-of-famer was definitive in his prediction:
“He’s [Usyk] not going to beat Tyson Fury.
Ward went on to detail why Fury has the upper hand against Usyk:
“Tyson Fury’s not just some big lumbering guy, he’s skilful, he can fight.
“It’s just too much mass I think.”
The former world champion went on to suggest Fury should retire if he becomes the unified champ:
“I think Tyson Fury should fight the winner [of Joshua-Usyk] whoever it is, try to get another belt and if successful ride off into the sunset.
“He’s got nothing else to prove.”
Asked whether Joshua can beat Usyk in the rematch, Ward replied;
“I think he can but I think he has to change some things.
“I think he needs to keep getting that mass off of him like he tried to do in the first fight.
“He showed us that he can make adjustments like what he did with Andy Ruiz so i don’t think we can
count him out
“He just didn’t know what to do [in the first fight], you see him thinking like man how do i stop this smaller guy from hitting me he just didn’t know
“Be the bigger man come behind your jab don’t get caught up in the boxing match, don’t try to be cute, be the bigger man impose your will and let’s get this guy out of here and if he does that I think he can win.”
Joshua was beaten by the Ukrainian last year, losing the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO titles in London.
He goes to Jeddah on August 20th looking to become a three-time Heavyweight champion and in doing so set up a possible showdown against Tyson Fury.