Oleksandr Usyk has reacted to being told that heavyweight legend, Mike Tyson, believes Tyson Fury will ‘pound’ on him if the two eventually meet.
Usyk is currently in Saudi Arabia having signed a monumental deal with Skill Challenge Entertainment in the hope they can get Fury to sign for the undisputed fight.
While in the Middle East for the Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury fight earlier this year, ‘Iron’ Mike was asked about the heavyweight clash – and was in no doubt who would come out on top.
“Tyson Fury [will win], he’ll over power him.
Usyk can’t run that long with him. Tyson’s going to wear him down, he’ll get on him, wear him down and then he’s going to pound on him. Usyk’s not going to win a title running. Usyk’s not going to be Tyson moving and running, at some point in the fight he’s going to have to fight.
Fury’s a different fighter to AJ, he’s going to be more consistently on the guy but AJ nearly stopped him with body punches, AJ was hurting him with body punches but he was doing it often enough.”
When told about Tyson’s prediction by SecondsOut, Usyk reacted in typical Usyk fashion.
“My response to Mike Tyson would be, ‘Mike you are a legend, you are a really, really cool man, thank you very much Mike’.
Before any potential fight against ‘The Gypsy King’, the Ukrainian must first get past his WBA mandatory in Daniel Dubois.
After unsuccessful negotiations, the fight went to purse bids which were won by Usyk’s team, K2 Promotions, for just over $8 million.
The fight was initially planned to take place on August 12 in Poland, but has now been pushed back to be closer to Ukraine’s Independence Day.