Should it be made, Oleksandr Usyk will go into a fight against Tyson Fury as the underdog, but a heavyweight who caused one of the biggest upsets of all time predicts the Ukrainian has the tools to do the same and knockout ‘The Gypsy King’.
Fury and Usyk looked all set to battle earlier this year until talks suddenly collapsed over apparent rematch financials. A fight between the top two in boxing’s blue-ribbon division would crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis back in 1999. Despite that, the teams still failed to make history happen.
Former heavyweight champion, Hasim Rahman, will forever be remembered for his stunning knockout victory over Lewis in 2001, and he’s backing Usyk to do the same against Fury if they do end up stepping though the ropes together.
Speaking to FightHype about the potential match-up, Rahman says Usyk will use Fury’s size and weight against him
“If he [Fury] wants to keep his legacy intact then he should fight Usyk – but I think Usyk can beat him.
Tyson Fury’s biggest advantage is that most heavyweights are really slow and he uses his boxing skills against them. Usyk is in his prime in the heavyweight division and I think he can beat Tyson Fury.
Fury’s size would be an advantage with most heavyweights who just stand in front of you ans Fury could lean on and grab but Usyk is not that type of fighter, he’s not going to allow him to just use his weight, and his size, in fact, he’s going to use his weight and size against him.
He’s going to use spurts of boxing and do that for 12 rounds and I think Tyson walking around at 200 pounds he’s going to gas out. Usyk will make him exhausted and probably knock him out.”
Fury instead takes on former UFC champion, Francis Ngannou, next in Saudi Arabia on October 28, but there have reports from his team that Usyk negotiations have restarted.
Meanwhile, Usyk is set to be officially ordered to face his next mandatory, Filip Hrgovic.