The last man to hold the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world has questioned whether it was a wise move for Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) to drop so much weight for his fight against Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
Britain’s Fury, 35, was widely panned for turning up in less than optimal shape for his near-disastrous fight against boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou last October.
Weighing in at almost 278-pounds, the six-foot-nine Fury had to survive a third-round knockdown to eke out a 10-round split decision win in their non-title bout.
Now with his WBC heavyweight title on the line against WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Usyk, he looks to have put in a serious training camp for the 37-year-old Ukrainian southpaw.
Although the boxers are yet to weigh in, photos of Fury show him appear to be slimmer than he was for the Ngannou bout.
Lennox Lewis, who held the undisputed heavyweight championship 25 years ago, isn’t sure this is necessarily a good thing.
“I wouldn’t say panic mode,” Lewis said about his countryman during the pre-fight press conference. “He wasn’t happy with his last fight so he took this fight very serious. Usually when heavyweights lose a lot of weight and I’ve been watching him. He’s lost a lot of weight, his legs are skinny.
“I’m a little bit concerned maybe if he gets hit on the chin, he doesn’t have the legs anymore. For me, I’ve got big legs so when I got hit on the chin, it’s not easy to knock me down.”
Lewis famously battled Evander Holyfield to a split draw in March 1999 before defeating the former cruiserweight world champion by unanimous decision in their immediate rematch eight months later.
Lewis believe Fury should take a leaf from his book when he battles former undisputed cruiserweight king Usyk on Saturday night.
“For me, fighting [Holyfield] again, it was basically if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Lewis explained. “So basically go out there and do the same thing. Make sure I stick my jab. Great heavyweights have great jabs. So that’s what really leads them to become a great heavyweight because they have great jabs, great combinations.
“That’s what [Fury] should do. He’s got great uppercuts, great right hand, great left hooks, so he needs to use all the tools in his arsenal.”
The winner of the Fury-Usyk bout will be universally recognised as the best big man of the current era.
“One of the greatest heavyweights ever,” Lewis said about Fury’s standing if he wins. “It’s different eras. My era was hard. His era was not as hard. It’s up to the people to really judge that.”
