Deontay Wilder’s trainer Malik Scott has broke down the upcoming undisputed heavyweight world title clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, and has revealed some insights from sparring the two men.
An announcement came earlier this month that Fury and Usyk had signed terms to lock horns in Saudi Arabia for all four major heavyweight world titles, though there has been no confirmation on the date as of yet.
And Scott explained why he was favouring ‘The Gypsy King’ in a recent interview with Pro Boxing Fans.
“I’m 70/30 with Fury. A couple of months ago I was 50/50 with it, but I wasn’t very big on Oleksandr Usyk’s performance against Daniel Dubois, and I’m very big on how Tyson Fury can impose himself, and he’s not slow.”
“If you don’t have a one punch knockout to clip him, then you’re dealing with big issues. Usyk is not a big puncher and he’s not a big man. So we’ll have to see what happens.”
Scott has sparred both Fury and Usyk and described the ‘huge difference’ between the two.
“Huge difference [between the two]. The Tyson I boxed is my favourite Tyson – he’s elusive, quick, back foot, good hand position, doesn’t give you an opportunity to hit him. When I boxed Usyk, he had the best balance to get his shots off. He reminded me of a heavyweight Lomachenko.”
The fight is expected to take place in either late December or early January, with confirmation likely coming after ‘The Gypsy King’s heavily polarising crossover bout with former UFC heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou, which takes place in Riyadh on October 28th.
The winner will be the first undisputed heavyweight world champion in almost 25 years, and will almost certainly go down as one of the greatest fighters of all time.