When the undisputed heavyweight world title fight was announced between WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) and WBC titleholder Tyson Fury 33-0-1 (24) was recently announced, fans and pundits were quick to pick sides.
Conventional wisdom says the six-foot-nine Fury, 35, of England will simply be too big for the 36-year-old Ukrainian southpaw to handle when they meet in Saudi Arabia on a date to be determined.
Before that fight can happen Fury will need to get past boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in their 10-round non-title bout in Saudi Arabia on October 28.
It is widely expected that Fury will prevail without much trouble in what will be his first bout since knocking out gatekeeper Derek Chisora 34-13 (23) in 10 rounds in December last year.
Former WBA super middleweight champion George Groves, who retired five years ago with a record of 28-4 (20), thinks Fury’s recent lack of competition will come back to bite him.
“Usyk wins. I don’t think Fury’s run of fights serve him well to fight in January, say, because his last time out was Chisora, that was almost like a glorified spar,” Groves said to Grosvenor Sports.
“He’s got this fight coming up with a UFC fighter, who knows what your mindset is when you’re fighting someone who you know is inferior to you, so has he been training properly? Is he sharp? Has he had the right sparring?”
Usyk has fought just once this year, a ninth-round knockout of WBA number one contender Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois 19-2 (18) in London in August.
Former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk has won five fights at heavyweight since moving up a weight class four years ago. He won the undisputed championship from Anthony Joshua 26-3 (23) two years ago and has successfully defended the three belts twice.
Groves believes Uysk’s combination of speed, angles, footwork and shot selection will be the difference against Fury.
“Usyk is exceptional at being able to change and adapt. His boxing ability is superior, in my opinion, to everyone else in the heavyweight division,” Groves said.
“What he lacks in natural size, he makes up for in timing, shot placement, adjustments of feet, tempo and power. It’s Usyk’s hardest fight, and it might be a close fight, but I think I think Usyk wins.”
But despite his conviction that Usyk will win, Groves remains unconvinced that the fight will go ahead.
“They’ve announced Usyk-Fury but whether it’s actually properly done or not, who knows?” he said. “They haven’t announced a date, they haven’t done a press conference for it. I might be sceptical that it happens at all to be honest, just a little bit sceptical.
“I think it’s a possibility that it may be a hoax. I’m not saying it’s definitive because Usyk has announced it as well, so I don’t doubt that something’s been signed, but the timing of it is interesting.”
