Former featherweight champion of the world, Barry McGuigan, has offered his thoughts ahead of the expected fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk next year.
‘The Clones Cyclone’ won the WBA title in 1985 and is well-respected as one of the greats in British boxing history.
A proud member of both the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame, McGuigan told Pro Boxing Fans that the fight is far tougher for Fury than he first thought.
“It is a tough one, I’ve always thought that Tyson [Fury] would be too strong, heavy for him [Usyk] and that he would be able to lean on him and make him tired and overwhelm him in the second half of the fight, but I’m not too sure anymore.
I think it is a much more difficult fight than I first assumed, anybody can win this fight, it is a tough fight. You’ve got to give Fury the favouritism because they can’t fight in the Ukraine, it’s going to be in the U.K. or potentially the United Arab Emirates. You have got to make Fury the favourite, but it is no foregone conclusion, I think it is a very tough fight.”
The fight between the two champions would crown a first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000. However, rather ironically, that crown may not be available for The Gypsy King, who stated that he would not pay the sanctioning fee for the IBF title.
This would mean that only Usyk would have the opportunity to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era and cement his legacy amongst the greats. The Ukrainian would also become just the second fighter to have been undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, joining Evander Holyfield in an extremely exclusive club.
Whilst the fight is close to announcement and being spoke of as one of the must-see fights of 2023, John Fury, father of Tyson, has admitted that a fight with fellow Brit, Anthony Joshua, would be a far bigger event. However, the WBC champion disagrees with his old man, claiming a fight with Usyk is worth “twice as much” as the clash with ‘AJ’.