WBC heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) holds advantages over WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) in almost every area, including footwork.
That’s the opinion of his co-trainer Andy Lee who works alongside SugarHill Steward to prepare the self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ for his bouts.
Britain’s Fury, 35, will get the chance to prove that he is the best big man on the planet when he challenges Ukrainian southpaw Usyk, 36, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 17.
The Usyk-Fury fight will close out a busy three months for the heavyweight division. In Saudi Arabia next month a number of top heavyweights will clash in meaningful fights that will help shape the landscape of the division for the next year. These include former world champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in separate bouts against Otto Wallin and Joseph Parker respectively, along with Daniel Dubois vs Jarrell Miller.
The winners of those bouts will be jockeying for a shot at the victor of the Usyk vs Fury bout.
To hear Lee tell it, that will be Fury.
“Tyson is more skilled and Tyson has got better footwork,” Lee said to SecondsOut.
“Tyson is taller. Usyk might have an edge in speed now than this version of Tyson being the lighter man. In most departments, Tyson has him outgunned.
“Tactics will be a big factor in this fight.
“Tyson has a great boxing mind. He’ll figure him out, he knows what he’s doing.”
In his last bout Fury struggled with boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou 0-1 in their 10-round non-title bout in Saudi Arabia last month. Fury had to climb off the canvas in the third round to edge the 37-year-old French-Cameroonian by disputed split decision.
Questions were asked of Usyk in his last bout too. Defending his titles against Dubois, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion was dropped by a blow to the beltline that was ruled low in the fifth round. He took the full five minutes allocated to him to recover before going on to stop the Englishman in the ninth round.
Asked whether they see Usyk as vulnerable to the body, Lee said: “You can’t depend on anything. You’ve got to prepare for someone that is 100% strong. You can’t be preparing to go to the body hoping it’ll pay off.
“Tyson said to many times, ‘I’m not even going to go to the body, I’m going to knock him out to the head’.
Lee hinted that Fury didn’t have the best preparation for the Ngannou fight, promising a better version of his boxer for the Usyk bout.
“I think I know the reasons why, but I’m not making any excuses for Tyson,” Lee said of Fury’s subpar performance against Ngannou. “We fought a big, strong man and he got knocked down, but he got back up and won like he always does.
“Trust me, he’ll be a lot better for his next fight because of it.”
