Gareth A. Davies says Tyson Fury’s nutritionist said he was in “great condition” for his rematch with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st in Riyadh. Davies claims that Fury’s conditioning was “brilliant.”
Wasted Camp
The 281-lb Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) didn’t look in “great condition,” and he certainly didn’t look “brilliant” unless we’ve dramatically lowered the bar for a fighter to meet those criteria. He looked like an out-of-shape, retired former athlete who was taking it easy.
Tyson looked like someone sitting on the couch, eating cakes and pies for the last three months. He appeared to be carrying around 30 lbs of excess fat that shouldn’t have been there around his waist. That’s a discipline problem.
For the ‘Gypsy King’ to come through a three-month training camp and look like that, it suggests these things:
- Didn’t work hard
- Cut corners
- Eating too much
- Not enough cardio
For this important fight, Fury should have weighed no more than 247 lbs, the weight he came into for his historic victory over Wladimir Klitschko on November 28, 2015. Fury has never weighed in the 240s since that clash, and he’s not performed as well in any of his fights in the last nine years.
Lacking Discipline
That tells you that Fury lacks discipline because he should have been able to trim down to the mid-240s if he’s worked hard and controlled his eating. Call it laziness, but he hasn’t pushed himself to take the weight off. That’s why he was beaten twice by Usyk and will likely lose to Anthony Joshua if that fight happens next.
“Fury was improved, but so was Usyk. His conditioning for a 20-stone man was brilliant,” said Gareth A. Davies to Boxing King Media about Tyson Fury’s physical condition for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st.
“I spoke to his [Fury] nutritionist, and they said he was in great condition and had a great camp. He showed that in the fight. Usyk was a bit smarter. There were times that Fury, the giant, was trying to swat this smaller guy, and he was in and out and landing just before he went out in those clinches in the last third of the fight.
“It was a close fight, it was definitely a close fight. It was very physical, an intriguing contest. It wasn’t a thrill-a-minute fight, but it was so intriguing. It was a grueling fight for both men. They’ve been through 24 grueling rounds together,” said Gareth about Fury and Usyk.
The last two fights between Fury and Usyk weren’t grueling encounters. Usyk worked over Tyson in the ninth round of their first contest on May 18th, but that was the only action-packed round of the 24 rounds they fought where a lot of punches landed. Their two fights were chess matches, not grueling fights.
Fury has NOT improved. I don’t know what Gareth is talking about. He’s gotten steadily worse and looks incapable of besting any top heavyweights. Usyk is a good fighter, but some guys in the top 15 would have beaten him in his last two fights. He beat Fury and Anthony Joshua because neither is elite or at the A-level. During their best years, they were overrated, but now they’re even worse.
“There’s an obvious fight for Fury [Anthony Joshua] next, but not for Usyk. The obvious fight for Fury is Joshua, but for Usyk, does he fight Daniel Dubois again if he defeats Parker? Does he fight Parker if he defeats Dubois on February 22nd and win back the undisputed title again? That seems to be the obvious route, but outside of that, what else is there for him [Usyk]?” said Gareth.
Usyk will likely fight the winner of the Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker fight next. Eddie Hearn is pushing for Usyk to fight cruiserweight Jai Opetaia, but that’s not likely to happen. Opetaia is a no-name for casual boxing fans, and it’s not a fight that would do well. If Turki Al-Shiekh wants to finance a battle between those two, that would be great, but other than that, Usyk is better off fighting the Dubois-Parker winner to recapture his undisputed championship.
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