Former multi-weight great Roy Jones Jr isn’t a huge fan of a potential fight between WBC champion Tyson Fury and WBA, IBF and WBO title holder Oleksandr Usyk, but he does see one winner should it happen.
This fight has been on the cards for some time but, after failed negotiations earlier in the year, communications broke down and both men went separate ways.
After a controversial fifth round in which Usyk was deemed to have been hit low, the Ukrainian successfully defended his belts against British challenger Daniel Dubois with a 9th-round knockout win, and Fury will face off against MMA star Francis Ngannou on October 6.
Speaking on his official YouTube channel, former heavyweight champ Jones was asked if Usyk is the next fight for Fury.
“He could be. Myself, however, I don’t like the fight still. I never liked the fight then, and I still don’t like it now. The reason being, the Dubois fight happened the way it happened so now there’s a question. If Deontay Wilder caught Usyk with a body shot like that what might happen? If it wasn’t borderline, he may have got counted out.
Jones then said he thinks the question mark over Usyk’s ability to take a body shot changes things.
“That opens the gate up to a lot more opportunities for guys who can punch. Fury can punch, don’t get it twisted, but [Usyk] and Fury both are technicians. They’re guys who fight with skill, they fight with will when necessary, but they fight with more skill than explosiveness.”
The fighting legend finally credited Fury’s improved power, but still thinks a fight with Usyk would come down to skill more than anything.
“Tyson Fury’s power has got better over the years, don’t get me wrong, but he’s still not known as that Tommy Hearns explosiveness.
I always thought Tyson would probably get the better of the fight and now I got even more reason to think that. But at the same time it’s a good tactical fight, but we don’t want to see tactical fights, we want to see you knock him out or him knock you out fights, that’s what the heavyweight division is about.”
Either way, the boxing world wants to see this match-up between the two best in the division, if only to crown a sole champion for the first time in over two decades.