Tyson Fury may have accidentally described his own career when he warned Fabio Wardley that a brutal loss can permanently change a fighter, because Fury himself has not looked the same since running into Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury recently pointed to Deontay Wilder as an example of a heavyweight whose career changed after suffering punishment in their trilogy, warning Wardley about the possible long-term effects following his punishing loss to Daniel Dubois. The comparison caught attention because many fans now believe Fury has gone through a similar decline since losing twice to Usyk.
Tony Bellew added fuel to that conversation this week while discussing Fury’s defeats and the difficulty of facing Usyk.
“Just say it as it is. He was better than you. Tyson Fury spent 12 months degrading him and dehumanizing him and insulting him,” said Bellew to Fight Your Corner podcast.
“Then, when he beat him, it was like ‘I’ve been robbed’. No, he’s amazing, I just didn’t think he was that good, none of the credit he deserves, which I don’t like. When you get beat by someone who’s better than you just hold your hands up.
“It kills him. That’s what breaks his heart the most, that he’s met someone who’s just better than him. But he’s not the only one, and he’s got to accept that,” said Tony Bellew to Sky Sports.
Bellew’s comments stood out because he experienced Usyk himself. Bellew was ahead on two scorecards entering the eighth round of their 2018 undisputed cruiserweight fight before being stopped.
“Oleksandr Usyk is the only person I came up against, and my game plan was going perfectly. Everything was perfect,” said Bellew. “At the end of round seven, I’m up on two cards, and I’m drawing on the third card, but I didn’t know where I was at the start of round eight. He made me that tired.
“He’s the best fighter I’ve ever faced. His footwork was on another level. He’d downloaded everything I’d done, and he used it against me in the end. He’s exceptional. I’d never faced anyone who could do what he’d done to me.”
The timing of Bellew’s remarks is interesting because Fury’s career has looked very different since the first Usyk defeat. Fury lost the rematch clearly, retired for more than a year, and then returned against Arslanbek Makhmudov, looking slower and less fluid than the version that dominated Wilder and outboxed Wladimir Klitschko earlier in his career.
Fury still won the fight, but the aura that once surrounded him did not fully return.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tony+Bellew+fight+your+corner+fury&sp=EgIIAw%253D%253D
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Last Updated on 2026/05/20 at 12:33 PM
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