By: Sean Crose
“It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Tyson Fury recently declared on the show. Aggression audio file. Of course, he is referring to the man who failed him in the first place, Oleksandr Usyk. Although Usyk won the decision, he almost knocked out the towering Fury at one point during their 12-round undisputed heavyweight championship fight. No problem. Fury insists he lost to the skilled Ukrainian because he may have had too good a time.
“I was teasing him with three, four punch combinations and laughing at him,” Fury said. “My problem in that fight, maybe, was that I was having too much fun. Maybe it’s too easy. Sometimes it’s just too easy.” Fury, who has a tradition of making eyebrow-raising statements, certainly had his moments in his fight with Usyk. Indeed, it seems like the time has come when he can easily pull away from opponents with his jab and flexibility. However, Usyk is not about to let his dream of becoming undisputed heavyweight champion disappear into the Saudi night.
However, Fury feels that it was more a case of him losing than Usyk winning. “It was like I was there with a local amateur boxer,” he continued, “and I was having too much fun, messing around…that’s what happens when you have too much fun.” Although Fury is sometimes seen as having too much fun outside the ring, no one has ever accused him of letting wins slip away. Again, this man had never lost a match before meeting Usyk.
Luckily for Fury, he has a rematch with Usyk set for December in Saudi Arabia. “I have to get him out of there,” he said of Usyk, “because I’m not going to make a decision, which is a shame because just winning is hard enough to win a fight, don’t bother mind knowing you have to take someone down.”
Of course, team Usyk is taking Fury’s words with a grain of salt. Usyk had a stellar performance in his first (and so far only) fight. Despite what Fury might say, the second-ranked fighter (Usyk was the undisputed cruiserweight champion before moving to heavyweight) did not fight like “a local amateur” in his first fight fairy. Fury himself knows as much. That is why Fury will definitely enter the rematch knowing what a great challenge awaits him.
“But I’m confident,” Fury said, “and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
