Despite the fact he won virtually every minute of the fight, some observers are now giving Oleksandr Usyk less of a chance against Tyson Fury than they were before his unified world title defence against Daniel Dubois last month.
Heavyweight contender Michael Hunter, however, does not appear to be one of them.
Usyk dominated and stopped Dubois in nine rounds at Wroclaw Stadium, though a fifth round low blow was the main talking point that came from the fight, with some of the opinion that the right hand from Dubois – which sent the Ukrainian to the canvas – should have been ruled a legitimate knockdown.
Low or not, Hunter hasn’t penalised Usyk too harshly for it, and told SecondsOut that he believes the 35 year old “gives Fury the blues” if they pair were to meet.
“I still see Usyk giving Tyson the blues. The power is the only thing, he’s going to have to figure out how to gain his respect and win rounds.
Usyk is a fleet footed fighter, and he’s going to have to gain some of Tyson’s respect in the earlier rounds.
I see Usyk still giving him fits though. It’s very controversial, but I still think Usyk gives him problems because he has problems with fighters that are our size and use their feet a lot.
But I don’t think they’ll even step in the ring together. Hopefully they do, but I don’t see it happening.”
Hunter knows Usyk well, his one career loss coming at the hands of the Ukrainian back in 2017. The cruiserweight bout was for Usyk’s WBO world title, and saw Hunter down in the twelfth before losing a unanimous decision. He has since joined the champion on a move up to heavyweight.
Boxing fans could be forgiven for losing hope that a legacy defining four-belt unification between Usyk and Fury will ever take place, given the multiple failed negotiation stages that have already occurred.
Both teams remain confident that it will take place in early 2024, but, as things stand, both may have a fight in between now and then.