Artur Beterbiev, the unbeaten IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion, is predicting a victory for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury over unified three-belt champ Oleksandr Usyk if he comes “well prepared” for their undisputed fight on February 17th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Weighing 277 lbs, Fury looked in poor condition for his last fight against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou last October and was fortunate to scrape by with a ten-round split decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The judges gave Fury the win, but the world saw him losing and being gifted a victory.
Fury’s Preparation Key
“I said when they fight, Oleksandr Usyk with Joshua, I said I think Joshua is going to win. I’m more for Joshua because he’s a real heavyweight. He’s not a cruiserweight,” Beterbiev said to Sky Sports Boxing.
“There’s a big difference. I say who is preparing well, will win. Now, too, I think Tyson Fury is going to win. But who’s preparing well, he’s going to win.”
As you can see here, Beterbiev was wrong with his prediction on the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight, and he could be off with the Fury-Usyk clash as well. He’s obviously no Nostradamus, no great predictor of the future.
Fury’s fans, the media, and particularly AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn will be distraught if ‘The Gypsy King’ loses to Usyk because that would potentially derail the plans for a money fight later this year in Saudi Arabia.
Fury would still have a second shoot to try and avenge his loss to Usyk in a rematch, but given how he appeared in his last two fights against Ngannou and Dereck Chisora, there’s an excellent chance he loses both fights against Oleksandr.
You can’t rule that out, obviously, because if it happened once, it can definitely happen twice. It’s the same location with the same stakes on the line. Fury needs to win the money fight against Joshua, which means Usyk may need to not only beat him but make it so one-sided that there’s no chance of a questionable decision.