Roy Jones Jr has been looking ahead to the upcoming undisputed fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury-Usyk is one of the best fights in the sport and is set to play out in February 17 in Saudi Arabia for all four major world heavyweight titles. The winner will become the division’s first sole champion since Lennox Lewis.
Speaking to ProBox TV, Jones Jr was asked who he fancied in the fight and explained how Usyk, whilst smaller, is very much in the fight.
“Well, I’m going to be honest with you, I like both fighters. Both are friends of mine and I can’t say which one will necessarily dominate. In old terms, the good big guy usually beats the big little guy, but Usyk is a little bit different.
“He’s a more complex little guy than most guys around. Like when I fought John Ruiz, I wasn’t just a little guy, I was a pretty complex little guy.”
He then assessed the apparent lack of power in Usyk’s punches.
“Now to his bad side, he does not have explosive punching power. And that’s the kryptonite for Fury cause [Francis] Ngannou has explosive punching power and was able to put him down. [Deontay] Wilder had it and was able to put him down a couple times.”
Despite the fact Fury has been down, Jones countered that he has always got back up.
“Fury has been down seven times in his career but he got up every time. That says a lot. It takes a lot of explosive power to put him down but a cruiserweight with explosive power can do it because John Cunningham did it.
“Usyk needs to put him down, but can you keep him down? That’s not been done yet. Can Usyk put him down multiple times and keep him down? If Usyk can’t put him down I can’t see him winning the fight.”
Whether Usyk – currently going through an intense sparring regime – can indeed put Fury down or is instead able to put on a boxing masterclass and win on points, fans shall soon find out. Fury is ever confident, previously saying he would stop the Ukrainian inside six rounds.
