Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk | PPV - 18 May 2024

[The Gratest]

He did have a black eye as well. They can take a while to heal

[Redback Rasta]

It had to be a serious injury for the fight to be postponed - Fury wasn't seriously injured, in his own words he had a graze on his head and he had no cuts. Watch one of the few interviews he actually gave.

Whether he wants the fight or not remains to be seen, he'll be dealing with a massive lawsuit if he doesn't. Fury has been well and truly cornered. He's a lucky boy Usyk agreed to move the date to February.

Who said it had to be 'a serious injury' for Fury-Usyk to be postponed?

A serious injury was always going to postpone it. That's a no brainer. But even Usyk said to Fury after the fight : 'You need a rest after that.'

[Twinkle Toes]

The information is out there if you can be botherd to look past fury's bollocks slapping around on your chin.

[si7dog7]

So, February 17th in Riyadh. There you go.

Its gospel then,
Come on now.

You won't have to wait long to find out, will you

Even Hearn admits the fight is signed and will happen.

Hmm
Yeah Rasta.
“Even Hearn” has sold the AJ v Wilder and AJ v Fury fight for, I don’t know how many years.
Please forgive a sceptic for having a dash of realism
If it happens on 17/2/24. Hound me.
I’ll be purged of scepticism.

Doubt it very much though.

[Ruthless-RKO]

It’s nice for UK fans these fights in Saudi.

They only being 3 hours ahead.

We get primetime baby!!

[The Gratest]

Its gospel then,
Come on now.

You won't have to wait long to find out, will you

Even Hearn admits the fight is signed and will happen.

Hmm
Yeah Rasta.
“Even Hearn” has sold the AJ v Wilder and AJ v Fury fight for, I don’t know how many years.
Please forgive a sceptic for having a dash of realism
If it happens on 17/2/24. Hound me.
I’ll be purged of scepticism.

Doubt it very much though.

It's strange, isn't it? Hearn was getting stick for apparently emptying out a load of empty words* about the fight card in Saudi on 23rd December before the fighter names were announced.
Now, regards to the twice previously postponed/ducked Fury v Usyk fight, it's the gospel according to Eddie Hearn.
Amazing

*half those empty words were later revealed to be from Fwank Warren's mouth.

[Redback Rasta]

Strange?

Accepting the truth is strange around here :lol:

But it is entertaining watching those conflicted by narrative lying through their teeth :lol: :lol:

[The Gratest]

Mirror mirror on the wall...

[Redback Rasta]

:lol:

[The Gratest]

Thanks, it was quite funny!

[BigDoofus]

A date for the first ever 4 belt unification World heavyweight fight is set to be announced.
The bitterness from the same handful of posters is palpable.

[The Gratest]

He can't help it, Eddie just winds him up, even to the extent that he mixes him up with Fwank!

Anyway, glad this is now signed, no more wriggling off the hook for Fury

Looking forward to this

[Redback Rasta]

Huge fight this one and at the end of it one man will stand alone in the heavyweight division.

[tonyevs]

A date for the first ever 4 belt unification World heavyweight fight is set to be announced.
The bitterness from the same handful of posters is palpable.

Old news Doofy .. 23rd of December 2023 was announced weeks ago. Set in stone too, with Tyson Fury going as far as promising to sue Usyk if he didn't do that date too.

But .. Tyson Fury pulled out again. Let's wait and see what he does for the February 2024 date eh ..

[Redback Rasta]

Roll on February 17th. There wouldn't be a boxing fan alive not keen for this :clap:

[big lennox]

He can't help it, Eddie just winds him up, even to the extent that he mixes him up with Fwank!

Anyway, glad this is now signed, no more wriggling off the hook for Fury

Looking forward to this

Looking forward to this one. Having an actual press conference gives me more confidence that it might happen, but I won't fully believe it until they are in the ring together.

P.S. I enjoyed the mirror mirror on the wall gag.

[The Gratest]

He can't help it, Eddie just winds him up, even to the extent that he mixes him up with Fwank!

Anyway, glad this is now signed, no more wriggling off the hook for Fury

Looking forward to this

Looking forward to this one. Having an actual press conference gives me more confidence that it might happen, but I won't fully believe it until they are in the ring together.

P.S. I enjoyed the mirror mirror on the wall gag.

Is Fury back to doing press conferences again? Ah, good stuff.

Thanks!

[Nightmare Roy]

It’s nice for UK fans these fights in Saudi.

They only being 3 hours ahead.

We get primetime baby!!

It is but why aren't AJ Wildet fighting each other been getting delayed for 7 years now.

[polecateddy]

I don’t think 3 months is going to put too much dent in that 20-25% fat frame of Fury’s. It’s more of less at the stage where all he has is reasonable movement for a 20 stone fat guy. It will probably be one of Usyk’s easier fights as he will be in no danger from Fury’s power, as basically he doesn’t have any anymore.

[The Gratest]

I originally picked Usyk by decision when the fight was first mooted. However, since then they've both shown signs of vulnerability; Usyk with the questionable low blow/weakness to the body; Fury with his terrible showing against a novice boxer in Ngannou.

Fury possibly did overlook Ngannou, thought he could do as he pleased, but ended up looking like a deer caught in headlights. The shock on his face following the knockdown and his desire to try and grab and clinch more than before following on from that...there was an obvious complete change of attitude and, dare I say, a bit of fear there.

I have no doubt he'll be taking Usyk a lot more seriously than he did Ngannou and will put in the necessary training to be fully prepared. However, there are questions of how well prepared he can be nowadays and if he still has the desire to go through the same rigours of training camp as he's done before. Also, if his body can get through it without any niggling injuries cropping up.

I don't look at the Ngannou fight as an example of how Usyk will beat him. Fury got shocked by Ngannou on the outside, opted to try and pot shot then clinch, but found Ngannou to be too strong for him to do so. Usyk doesn't have that strength, but also does not fall into clinches that often, he's all about movement. If Fury tries the same 'drunk at a wedding outstreched arms looking for a dance' attempts to clinch, he may well end up getting countered by a back stepping Usyk.

One thing in Fury's favour, given their ages and miles on the clock (Usyk had a loooong amateur career. I don't understand the detractors pointing out his defeat to a future welterweight in Porter as an indication of weakness. Rather the opposite. To step up from such a lower weight to become a unified HW world title holder is quite an achievement) is that heavyweights with height, size and longer reaches are stylistically able to achieve greater longevity at the top compared to smaller fighters who rely more on perpetual movement.
Targeting Usyk's body early whilst Fury still has his own reserves would allow him to then start leaning on and using his weight on a more static Usyk.

I think, the biggest factor though, will be the mentality. Fury opted to go down the money-grabbing path rather than take on Usyk at an earlier stage. Substituting money for glory/legacy could well come back to haunt him once they finally meet up in the ring. His usual mind games don't work with Usyk (I think he more outpsyched Wlad as 'outfought' him), he just turns them back against Fury with a smile.

I think there's a bit less desire in Fury nowadays and that could be the deciding factor. Usyk doesn't hit anywhere near as hard as Wilder or Ngannou, but he hits hard enough and accurate enough to hurt. He also fights at a constant pace applying pressure, whereas Fury likes to try and control the pace. Not all stoppages are from knockdowns, and I can see Fury getting picked off before a late standing stoppage for Usyk.

[jwfg]

It had to be a serious injury for the fight to be postponed - Fury wasn't seriously injured, in his own words he had a graze on his head and he had no cuts. Watch one of the few interviews he actually gave.

Whether he wants the fight or not remains to be seen, he'll be dealing with a massive lawsuit if he doesn't. Fury has been well and truly cornered. He's a lucky boy Usyk agreed to move the date to February.

And he gave David Haye all that stick for getting a cut. We all know who the real shithouse is.

[Controversial]

I’m guessing there was some clause in the contract that any kind of injury will postpone the fight. From what FW said he chose to postpone the fight and Fury was happy to stick to the December date.

[Gran Hermano]

Huge fight this one and at the end of it one man will stand alone in the heavyweight division.

And the loser will be an also ran like the rest of them

[Coco]

Arum saying that the fight will be announced tomorrow

[Redback Rasta]

Arum saying that the fight will be announced tomorrow

Brilliant!