Barry McGuigan says unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk showed signs of age in his win over Tyson Fury in their rematch on December 21st last year, and he feels that he could lose to the February 22nd winner of the match between IBF champ Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker.
Usyk’s Age a Factor?
Mcguigan notes that Usyk, 38, looked “tired” against Fury last December. He views that as a sign of the wear and tear from fighting the bigger heavyweights: Fury x 2, Anthony Joshua x 2, and Dubois.
Usyk has cleaned out the top British fighters, beating them all, showing the world that they were never as good as the naive public had thought. He took their belts and embarrassed the three of them
I watched the Usyk-Fury 2 rematch last December. Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) showed no signs of being tired. He shooled Fury, making him look like an old Fagin character from Oliver Twist, and did it effortlessly.
It was an easier fight for Usyk than the first one last year, in which he had Fury out on his feet in the ninth round on May 18th. That was the infamous round in which the referee swooped in and stopped the action to give Fury a standing eight count.
Usyk was one punch away from connecting with the coup de grace to finish the hurt Fury, and there would have been no getting up if he’d landed that shot.
“Yes, simply because of his age. He’s running out of time. He’s coming up from cruiserweight,” said Barry McGuigan to talkSport Boxing when asked if he believes that the the Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker winner could beat unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk due to his age.
“He’s [Usyk] physically a small heavyweight. Dubois is 18 1/2 stone of pure muscle, and Parker is not a lot less. They’re naturally bigger men, and you ask yourself. I agree [wear & tear showing with the 38-year-old Oleksandr]. If you look at that last fight [against Tyson Fury], he just looked tired.
“He got over the difficulties. He got hit with some good shot by Fury, but he just looked a little bit tired at the end of it all,” McGuigan continued about his thoughts on Usyk showing his age. “I’m thinking, he’s small. He’s beaten Joshua twice and beaten Fury twice. Now is the time to consider what he’s going to do.”
Usyk already knocked out Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) in the ninth round on August 26, 2023, and he’ll do it again if he’s victorious in his fight against Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) on February 22nd.
Dubois’s impressive showing in his last fight against Joshua on September 21st means nothing because he was facing a shot, chinny 35-year-old AJ in that fight. Joshua was never that good, to begin with.
Joshua was saved from four losses in the 2012 London Olympics and given a gold medal that many people don’t believe he rated. The last fight against Roberto Cammarelle of Italy looked like a crime. The Italian clearly won the fight, but AJ was given the decision.
“Was he better in the second fight [with Fury], because I think he was,” said Simon Jordan. “Frank Warren came on and said, ‘You should have seen the state of Usyk after the first fight. You lot are calling it a fight that Fury definitely lost, and there’s no debate about it. You should have seen the state of Usyk after the fight.’
“I suggest that Usyk was better, if not as good as he was in the first fight. So the idea was if he was tired in the first fight and he comes again against Fury, is that bearing out your argument at all?” said Jordan.
Usyk was better in the second fight with Fury. In the first, he was tired after expending energy, landing 20 consecutive headshots against Fury in the ninth round, and he had nothing left in the final three rounds. That’s why Fury came back to win rounds at the end to make it close. Usyk did not look tired in the rematch and schooled the bearded Fury. It was too easy.
The Burnout Factor
“You do get tired. Think about what he’s done. He’s achieved a lot. He’s come up from unified cruiserweight to push round the big guys and beat them up,” said McGuigan, talking about what Usyk has achieved by going from undisputed cruiserweight to accomplishing the same thing at heavyweight but against the huge British fighters, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Daniel Dubois.
“I felt he was better in the first Fury [fight] because if we look at the drama and overall control, he had him gone and very badly hurt in the ninth. He had him out on his feet, and he was gone. He didn’t do that in the second fight. So, you ask yourself, and you look at fighters; they start to burn out at some stage. That’s a testament to why he’s still here,” said McGuigan about the discipline that Usyk shows in training camp.”
Usyk was NOT better in the first fight against Fury. He lost rounds early in that contest and was hurt by an uppercut from the Gypsy King. In the middle rounds, Usyk came on to dominate Fury but then gassed out, allowing him to win rounds 10 through 12 on his superior engine. That’s why Usyk almost lost.
“Living a clean life is great, but wear & tear is something that you can’t actually measure. You can see it in a guy’s performance when they’re sparring and in the ring. It’s very difficult to know when a guy is ready to pop off,” said McGuigan.
Last Updated on 02/05/2025
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