Four-division world champion Roy Jones Jr has pointed out what he believes will be the deciding factor in the upcoming undisputed heavyweight title showdown between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
We are now just six weeks away from a historic match-up that will see all four heavyweight belts on the line for the first time ever, crowning an undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
Meanwhile, Oleksandr Usyk is looking to join an elite club and become just the second fighter ever to become undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, Evander Holyfield being the only man to have ever truly conquered both divisions.
Roy Jones Jr is a man who knows all too well about the difficulties of moving up to heavyweight, becoming the first man in 106 years to debut at middleweight and claim the heavyweight title when he beat John Ruiz.
He told talkSPORT that Usyk must use explosiveness to earn the respect of the bigger men.
“Right now, if you looked at the Ngannou fight, you would think that right now ‘AJ’ is definitely a better fighter than Fury, that is not necessarily the case but that is what it looks like.”
“Usyk on the other hand, is a guy who is a great technician, but he is not all that explosive. If he was explosive, it would be a problem, when you’re smaller and you’re coming up to the big guys you have got to bring explosiveness to the ring or else they won’t respect you. If he can’t find explosives before that fight takes place, he will not beat Tyson Fury, I don’t care what they say.
“Tyson didn’t take Ngannou serious – and he didn’t look the way that he should’ve looked against Ngannou, but he is still Tyson Fury and he is definitely going to take Usyk seriously.”
Fury-Usyk takes place on May 18th where a legacy-defining battle of skill versus size goes ahead live on TNT Sports Box Office, Sky Sports Box Office, and DAZN.