Last month, Tyson Fury suffered a first career defeat and lost his WBC heavyweight world title in a legendary encounter with Oleksandr Usyk. After having a few weeks to process the loss, Fury has come to the shocking conclusion that the reason he was trumped was because he found the contest “too easy”.
Fury seemed to be in control during the middle rounds of the bout after a closely-fought beginning to the scrap, but in rounds eight and nine it was the slick Ukranian who grabbed the bull by the horns and almost stopped ‘The Gypsy King’ – before banking the latter rounds in the eyes of the vast majority of viewers.
As a result, Usyk became boxing’s first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion with a razor-thin split-decision victory. Speaking on the Furocity Energy YouTube channel, Fury reflected on that night in Riyadh and declared his belief that he was only conquered because he “was having too much fun” in the ring and because he found it “too easy” to fight Usyk.
“I’ve watched the fight back lots and still got the same answer – I thought I won. Usyk knows he didn’t beat me… I thought I boxed the head right off him for most of the rounds. He busted my nose in round eight, got the 10-8 in round nine and I gave him round ten. But other than that I didn’t give him any other rounds.
“It was actually a lot easier than I thought it’d be. People said he’s hard to hit, I was lighting him up with four-punch combinations and laughing at him. My problem was I probably had too much fun. It was too easy. It was like I was in there with a local amateur boxer. I was enjoying it too much, messing around and paid the ultimate price in round nine.”
Shortly after their instant classic, Fury activated his rematch clause for a second meeting with the arguable pound-for-pound number one, hoping to avenge his maiden loss. However this time around, Tyson Fury has no intentions of allowing the judges to decide the affair, feeling as though he would be unable to get a decision victory against the 37-year-old technician.
“I’ve got to get him out of there because I’m not gonna get a decision. It’s unfortunate because it’s hard enough to win a fight just by winning it, never mind knowing you’ve gotta knock someone out. But I’m confident and looking forward to the challenge… I hear he’s got a broken jaw and a broken eye socket, so get yourself well and I’ll see you in December.”
Fury and Usyk will meet again on December 21st in Riyadh, although the undisputed title is unlikely to be on the line. Instead, Oleksandr Usyk is expected to be stripped of the IBF world title in the coming days, with Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois poised to battle for the vacant belt in September.
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