Oleksandr Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas says he can’t “beat” Tyson Fury, but he can defeat him by a decision.
Klimas understands that his fighter IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) lacks the size and the pop in his punches to knock out the huge 6’9″ behemoth Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs).
If the powerful former WBC champion Deontay Wilder wasn’t able to stop Fury in three tries, then the smaller, weaker 6’3″, 220 lb Usyk won’t be able to knock him out when/if the two meet in February or March of next year.
Klimas says they want the Fury fight, but if it doesn’t happen for whatever reason the contest doesn’t happen, then they’ll look at what’s next.
“The soonest is probably in February,” said manager Egis Klimas to Fight Hub TV about when Oleksandr Usyk will be available to defend his three heavyweight titles. “Definitely not this year.
“Fury is a big guy. I would say Usyk cannot beat Fury. Usyk can win Fury. It’s a big difference from beat and win. Usyk beat [Tony] Bellew. Usyk won Joshua. He didn’t beat Joshua. He won Joshua.
“Rewatch very closely Usyk-Joshua second fight, and count how many knockouts punches coming from Usyk, and then you tell me. He beat Joshua, or he won Joshua? He won Joshua every single round, but didn’t beat.
“Joshua got tired, but he didn’t beat. He won. This is what makes him the fighter he is. Of course,” said Klimas when told that Usyk “outpoints Fury.” “It’s going to be like cat & mouse. All I can do is talk. He’s the one that is going to be fighting.
“When is Tyson going to be ready because Usyk is looking right now for unification? He wants a unification. Hopefully, Tyson is going to make up his mind, and if there are no excuses, we’re going to come in February and fight.
“We spent a lot of time in preparation for the second Joshua fight. It took us maybe three and a half and four months. After the fight, Oleksandr went back to Ukraine.
“As we speak, he went back to the frontlines. He went to cheer the soldiers. We know the country is fighting. It’s really fighting. It’s not boxing, and he has his foundation. He’s helping a lot of people. He’s doing his duty for the country.
“That’s why he cannot prepare for the fight. In a week or two, he’s going to be coming out of Ukraine and coming to the United States. We have some plans to do here. We’re going to go to the WBO convention.
“After that, he can start to prepare for the training. So it brings us into February. I’m not going to say anything about Fury. I’m not going to think about Fury’s team. He has a team; he has advisers. Let them to work with him,” said Klimas when told that Fury might not be ready to fight Usyk in February if he fights in December.
“As far as [Usyk] fighting Wilder, it was in the talks if the fight is never going to happen with Fury, which Oleksandr would like to fight. He picked Wilder. That’s why he said that because he’s a dangerous fighter. I wanted to fight a dangerous fighter.
“Right now, it’s not in the talks to fight Wilder. Right now, it’s in the talks to fight Fury. If the Fury is going to go away, then we have to look at what is next. He holds three major belts. So the possibility is he might be ordered to fight a mandatory.
“Right now, the majority of the decisions is to fight Fury. No, we’re not talking about [fighting Fury], but there are promoters interested in that fight, and they’re talking about that fight.
“I don’t think that fight is going to happen because it’s a lot of different things business-wise,” said Klimas about the Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight. “Sponsorships, contracts, networks, broadcasters, managers. It’s a whole fruit salad.
“I’m not going to tell you what the status is with DAZN, ESPN, Sky Sports, HBO, Showtime, FOX,” said Klimas when asked about Usyk potentially re-signing with DAZN now that his contract has expired.
“I’ll tell you one thing. Usyk is promotional-free, and Usyk is broadcast-free. He’s not management free, but all of the above. We are as a team Usyk; we are three agents from promotion from broadcasting from networking,” said Klimas.
