Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2: What the ‘Gypsy King’ needs to do to secure victory in rematch

For a 6-foot-9 giant as gregarious as two-time heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has been throughout his legendary — and, at times, tumultuous — career, the self-proclaimed “Gypsy King” has been noticeably quiet, if not stoic this week as he looks to avenge his first loss in 16 years as a pro. 

Under normal circumstances, any words coming out of Fury’s mouth throughout the build to a big fight need to be taken with a grain of salt given the native of England’s often colorful and sarcastic responses, which typically depend on the hour, day and who is interviewing him. Put a microphone in front of his face and the 36-year-old Fury might tease retirement in one breath only to say, five minutes later, that he will fight for as long as he’s living.  

So, when Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) fielded questions on Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following the conclusion of his public workout ahead of Saturday’s unified heavyweight title rematch against Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs), what was most interesting was that Fury’s typical jovial nature was gone. And, no matter what line of questioning was thrown at him, Fury provided a dark, deadpan response regarding what fans should expect. 

“A lot of pain. Smash and damage. A lot of hurt,” Fury said. “Hurt, serious hurt. A lot of damage.”

One day later, at the fight’s final press conference, a seemingly possessed version of Fury arrived dressed in a loud suit, black tophat and overly bushy beard. But his words and demeanor were just as dark when asked about his suddenly serious persona, which turned out to be the only words of substance Fury delivered.

“I’m going to dish out a whole lot of pain. I’m going to put this f—er in the hurt locker, for sure,” Fury said. “I’ve got nothing to say apart from there is going to be a whole lot of hurt and pain in this fight, you watch. That’s all I’ve got to say. Talking has been done.”

Although Fury has overcome loss outside of the ring before in the public eye — from his wife Paris’ miscarriage the night before his May loss to Usyk via split decision to Fury’s dramatic comeback from depression and substance abuse immediately following his 2015 title upset of Wladimir Klitschko — this will be the first time he must reconcile an in-ring setback (save for his controversial 2018 draw against Deontay Wilder which Fury went on to twice avenge via stoppage). 

After a slow start against Usyk in the undisputed heavyweight title bout of the four-belt era, the defending lineal champion Fury largely dominated his smaller opponent in the middle rounds by relying on his seven-inch reach advantage to outbox Usyk from distance while making him pay with hard hooks to the body and devastating counter uppercuts. 

The 37-year-old Usyk, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion, turned the momentum in his favor beginning in Round 8. One round later, he quite literally had Fury on the ropes following a dramatic sequence of 14 unanswered punches that saw Fury seemingly one big punch away from being finished.

To Fury’s credit, he never hit the canvas. But after he slumped into the corner and was held up by the ropes, referee Mark Nelson rightfully ruled it as a knockdown, giving Usyk a 10-8 round. That one point turned out to be the difference in the fight as Usyk claimed a split decision (115-112, 113-114, 114-113).

Had Fury not been ruled down, the fight would have ended in a draw. And had he won Round 9, the victory would have swung his way. That’s how close their first meeting, which remains the co-frontrunner for boxing’s 2024 fight of the year alongside August’s Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Serhii Bohachuk war, truly was. 

Fury, who is no stranger to divisive comments, still believes that he should’ve won the fight and maintains his initial post-fight stance that two of the three judges only gave the bout to Usyk because his home country remains locked up in a war with Russia.

On the surface, given a historically great fight scored this close, Fury would have nothing to be ashamed about with his performance. But, the reality is that he allowed a smaller man who is not known as a big puncher to walk him down and nearly finish him. In fact, Usyk’s 170 landed punches were the most by a Fury opponent, according to CompuBox, and Usyk outlanded him in power shots from Round 10 through 12 by a margin of 36 to 15. 

A big part of that appeared to be the fact that Fury began to visibly gas out over the second half of the fight, which doesn’t help against an opponent as fit and mentally determined as Usyk. There also was a feeling that Fury, who entered the fight fresh off of a scare last October against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in which he was dropped and forced to hang on for a split decision, overlooked how great Usyk actually was and looked as surprised as anyone by the defeat.   

Fury’s stamina dump might’ve been the reality of him being forced to pull out of their original date of Feb. 17 due to a cut above his eye that, according to Fury, limited his ability to spar throughout much of training camp. Fury, whose “dad bod” in his mid-to-late 30s can sometimes be deceiving as to his actual fitness level, also weighed in at 262 pounds for the first fight which was lower than his career-high of 277 against Ngannou but far from the 247 he weighed in for Klitschko. 

There’s also the reality of Fury, a father of seven, having to endure the mental toll of his wife’s miscarriage so close to the fight. Even though Fury wasn’t officially told of the development in an effort to keep his focus intact, his wife’s absence at the fight gave him an ominous feeling. 

However you want to frame their first meeting, it’s hard not to come to the reality that Usyk, a betting underdog who is now a slight favorite entering the rematch, exceeded pre-fight expectations while Fury slightly underdelivered. It’s a reality that is clearly eating at Fury, which might explain his dramatic mental shift.

To make sure there are no excuses the second time, Fury has switched to an old-school approach for this fight, telling ESPN this week that he cut off all communication for the past three months during training camp in Malta from his wife, children and father, “Big” John Fury, who will be in his corner on Saturday alongside head trainer SugarHill Steward and former middleweight champion Andy Lee. Fury has also stayed away from his cell phone or the internet. 

In order to win the rematch, Fury will need to make some changes, which is why his weight for this fight will be interesting to see. Fury must find for himself a healthy balance between coming in leaner for the second fight to ensure his stamina and quickness is still there and packing on extra muscle and weight, which has long been the suggestion of his father, to ensure he can use his six-inch size and nearly 40-pound weight advantage as weapons. 

If Fury can’t repeat the type of success he had against Usyk as the bigger puncher in the middle rounds of their first fight, it’s going to be hard for him to outbox the best pure boxer the heavyweight division has seen in many decades. Fury will need to cut off the ring more, lean on Usyk to tire him out in the clinch and not hesitate to bend the rules in order to make Usyk as uncomfortable as possible when they get close, which sounds like an easy plan but is one Fury reminded that other Usyk opponents (like Anthony Joshua and current IBF titleholder Daniel Dubois) were unable to do. 

“If it was easy just to walk down Usyk, if you’re just a big man just walking down and bullying him, then Anthony Joshua would’ve done it who’s 6-foot-6 and like 260 [pounds],” Fury told ESPN. “And Daniel Dubois. These are massive punching guys, big, strong men. They didn’t walk him down. So, I don’t think it’s as easy as just walking into somebody with your hands up.”

Usyk may be the current pound-for-pound king but he isn’t unbeatable. Fury’s co-promoter, Frank Warren, whose fighter Dubois nearly finished Usyk to the body in 2023 before tiring and getting stopped late, believes a full-time focus downstairs could be Fury’s key against Usyk, which Warren believes is his weakness. Current undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, who went 1-2 against Usyk as an amateur, also dropped him to the body at the 2011 World Championships. 

All of that, however, depends upon the kind of shape Fury enters with, which we won’t fully know until Friday’s weigh-in. Fury appeared to have purposely kept the media in the dark about this topic at his public workout, where he wore an oversized sweatshirt (with a leather jacket over it) and barely moved around the ring in any form for the photographers who were present.

If history is any indication, Fury is 4-0 with four knockouts in rematches against Wilder and Derek Chisora following trilogies with both. But what has historically made Fury so unique as a heavyweight has been the hand and foot speed he brings to such an overwhelmingly large frame, which he used to frustrate and dance around Klitschko nearly a decade ago. 

Unfortunately for Fury, that version of himself has aged just a bit and added more mileage, which means he will need to not just be the bigger man on Saturday but fight like it in order to get his hand raised in what could turn out to be the defining fight of his great career. 

Until then, you won’t hear much talking from Fury, who had to be separated from Usyk after Thursday’s post-press conference staredown between the two reached nearly 10 minutes with neither man taking a backward step amid a steel gaze between them. All you’ll get is the promise for violence and a Fury victory, which would extend the Usyk series to a third and defining rubber match to see which heavyweight is the best of the division’s current renaissance era.

“The first fight, I talked, I joked — all my career,” Fury said. “This time I’m serious. I’m going to do some f—ing damage here on Saturday night. Watch me go to work on this f—er.”