Tim Bradley has labelled Tyson Fury “damaged goods” ahead of his December rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury 34-1-1 (24) lost his WBC heavyweight title to WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine king Usyk 22-0 (14) by split decision at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 18.
Ukrainian southpaw Usyk, 37, scored a knockdown of Fury in the ninth to win the bout by scores of 114-113, 113-114 and 115-112.
Britain’s Fury, 35, invoked the immediate rematch clause in his contract and will meet Usyk again in Saudi Arabia on December 21.
Retired boxer turned commentator Bradley says Fury will have an even tougher time against Usyk the second time around.
“He’s got to hit the roadwork. As you age out, you start doing less and less roadwork. Get your behind back on that roadwork, Tyson Fury. You need them lungs against Usyk,” Bradley said to ProBox TV.
“I would also say that Tyson Fury is damaged goods. I’m not going to lie. He’s damaged goods. He don’t like it on the chin. I’m just saying that his punch resistance has faded drastically.
“Bro, he got hit with a left hand early in the [Usyk] fight that nobody would talk about, and he got clipped. I saw his eyes roll back a little bit in his head. He got buzzed by that shot.
“So, if he’s going to want to stand there and trade and come forward [in the rematch], I think he’ll have some success against Usyk. But what happens when the counters come from Usyk?”
Fury had a trilogy of fights against big-hitting American Deontay Wilder 43-3-1 (42) that saw him on the canvas a total of four times. In his bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou 0-2 last October, he was dropped in the third round from a left hook.
Bradley believes the wear and tear from those fights has effected Fury both mentally and physically.
“And he got dropped by Ngannou as well. Two fights, how many times was he dropped? Six or seven times?” he said.
“Think about that now. So, he doesn’t believe in his chin as much as he did in the past and that’s the reason why he chose to box from the outside [against Usyk] and maintain this guy from the outside.
“The minute that Usyk stood his ground, he was like, ‘Forget all the feints and all these counters you’re trying to do to get me out of position. I’m going to stand my ground and fight you, because I know when you let your hands go and you try to retreat, you’re not disciplined defensively.’
“I think Usyk knows that now and he’s going to apply that and he’s going to make adjustments himself and he’s going to make this fight a lot easier than it was the first time around.”
