Despite winning almost every second of his fight with Daniel Dubois this past weekend, many are starting to play down Usyk’s chances in a potential undisputed clash against Tyson Fury.
Sky pundit Johnny Nelson has always been a believer that WBC champion Fury would simply prove too much for the masterful Ukrainian, and he isn’t changing his mind now.
In a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, Nelson claimed ‘The Gypsy King’ would “deal with” Usyk, should the historic four belt unification get made next year.
“Let me make my point clear – I’ve always thought Tyson would beat Oleksandr Usyk. I bet Tyson watched the Dubois fight and thought, “Get me that fight!” All of a sudden, conversations might start happening.
The only person who thought Tyson wouldn’t beat Usyk seems to have been Tyson! Get that fight on, he’ll deal with him and get the job done. Usyk’s an unbelievable fighter, but he’s a beatable fighter.
If you look at when he got hit, he instinctively went over, he didn’t have time to think about it, so he was hurt. He’s hurt-able and he’s vulnerable to the body arena.”
Though Usyk put on a boxing clinic that culminated in a ninth round stoppage victory, the main talking point from the fight was whether a fifth round low blow from Dubois, that sent the defending champion crashing to the canvas, should have been ruled a scoring shot.
Perhaps talk of Usyk having a “glass belly” will be enough to tempt Fury into a blockbuster fight in early 2024 – provided he makes it past Franics Ngannou next month, of course.