Oleksandr Usyk is picking Anthony Joshua to defeat Tyson Fury when the two meet in 2025 in two fights. It's not a complete shock that Usyk (23-0, 12 KO) is picking AJ to defeat Fury as he has a huge advantage in strength, speed and athleticism over Tyson.
United heavyweight champion Usyk defeated Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) for the second time last Saturday night in Riyadh, and he already defeated Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) twice in 2021 and 2022. From those fights, Usyk made a good guess as to who would win the match between AJ and 'The Gypsy King' Fury.
Usyk's choice
“Maybe it's Anthony Joshua,” Usyk said Boxing King Media when asked who would win in a fight between Joshua and Fury.
“I don't know, maybe it's the points. I don't know,” Usyk said about AJ defeating the Gypsy King.
Usyk surprised Fury several times, losing in 12 rounds by unanimous decision 116-112 x 3. After the fight, instead of being gracious in defeat, Fury insisted that he should have won and sounded like a sore loser. He showed that he is one of those fighters who never admit that they beat him. I still don't know what Turki Alalshikh sees in him.
Out of shape
Fury looked fat around the middle, with his underpants pulled up high above his navel, and the referee decided not to insist on pulling his underpants down. Did the referee not notice how tall Fury's trunks were for that fight?
There was almost no area for Usyk to aim his shots at Fury's midsection, given how tall his torso was. If this fight had been staged in the US, the referee would have insisted that Fury wear his briefs lower.
Fury's weight was way too high, 281, and I couldn't believe he was supposedly living like a monk during his three month training camp, not talking to his family because he was supposedly training so hard.
What did Fury eat during camp? How did he get through the camp and look so fat? I couldn't understand, and it doesn't look like Fury is dedicated enough at this point to work hard to get in decent shape for his fights.
Spinning A Loss
“There's only one fight for Tyson Fury and that's Anthony Joshua,” Eddie Hearn told DAZN Boxing last Saturday night. “This is the biggest fight in the history of British boxing and everyone will want to see it. It wasn't Tyson Fury who looked done.
“It was not a flat performanceit wasn't a bad performance. He didn't look shy or like his punch resistance was in question,” Hearn said, trying to paint a positive picture of Fury's loss to Usyk.
“Tyson Fury is still at the peak of power. AJ vs. Fury is the one. One at Wembley and then I'm back here for the season in Riyadh,” Hearn said of wanting to do two fights between Joshua and Fury in 2025.
Who is Hearn trying to fool here? Fury looked absolutely awful last weekend. If Hearn is serious about Fury still winning at his “peak” powers, that could mean he hasn't rated him in the first place because he's never looked great during his career.
Even during Fury's best win against a washed-up 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, he was mostly throwing punches in the air, leaning against the ropes, inviting the fiery Wlad to throw.