Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, is impressed with Tyson Fury’s ability to overcome the mental problems he experienced after his 2015 win over Wladimir Klitschko.
Fury went a little overboard with his celebrating the victory over Klitschko, enjoying himself a little bit too much with the food and parting, and wound up gaining a lot of weight and losing out on 2 1/2 years of his career.
Krassyuk admires the way Fury dragged himself back from that point in his life, losing a ton of weight and coming back to defeat WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
On Saturday night, Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) will be taking by far his toughest test since his fight with Wladimir when he faces IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) for the undisputed championship at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV and ESPN PPV.
“We respect Tyson Fury as an athlete, as a guy who achieved that much and who went up and down. For me, his biggest achievement was to come back after his mental rollercoaster after his fight with Klitschko,” said promoter Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk to DAZN Boxing, talking about Tyson Fury coming back from huge problems that kept him out of the ring for 2 1/2 years after his upset win against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
“He had some tough times. For me, that was the biggest thing that he could ever do.”
It is incredible that Fury lost the weight and captured a world title, but you can argue that the reason he could do that is because he hasn’t had anyone really talented since coming back. It’s fair to say that if Fury had to fight guys like Usyk for his WBC title when he came back, he’d still be a contender now with a loss on his record.
Sugarhill Steward Emphasizes Fury’s Adaptability
“The plan is to use everything that Tyson Fury has the ability to, and that’s a part of it as well,” said trainer Sugarhill Steward. “There’s walking him down, there’s also doing a bit of boxing and doing a bit of everything. Tyson can do everything.
It’s a given that Fury is going to walk Usyk down, and try and rough him up with dirty tactics on Saturday night. As much as Sugarhill wants to brag about Fury’s boxing skills, he’s not on the level of Usyk he won’t outbox him.
Fury’s only chance of winning is to make the fight dirty and look to hurt him with a shot that normally wouldn’t be allowed if the referee did his job.
“I think it’ll be a good mental challenge for Tyson that he’ll be really up for. Tyson is very adaptable in any situation, as we’ve all seen before. Also, Oleksandr Usyk. That’s why this is a great match and Tyson is very up for this fight,” said Steward.
