Promoter Frank Warren says IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk does a lot of crying to the referees during his fights when he gets hit to the body by his opponents.
He hopes a strong referee will work the fight on May 18th between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Usyk, their undisputed clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Warren saw his fighter, Daniel Dubois, arguably lose out on dethroning Usyk of his three titles in Wroclaw, Poland, when he knocked Oleksandr down with a belt-line shot, which the referee ruled was a low blow.
It turns out the shot was right on the belt and should have been ruled a legal shot. If it had been, Dubois would have been credited with a fifth-round knockout because Usyk was down for four minutes recovering from the shot.
“Crybabies to the Ref”
“He has previously been complaining and moaning when he gets caught in the body,” Frank Warren told Sky Sports about Oleksandr Usyk, who sometimes has problems handling punches to the body. “Now he’s in there with a guy [Fury] who is the master of taking advantage of any weakness.
“He does it a lot, Usyk, he ‘crybabies’ to the ref,” Warren said. “He’s had previous for it about body shots. As long as the referee’s strong in that, I’m really happy, and I’m even more confident in Tyson in this fight than I was prior to [Usyk] fighting Daniel Dubois,” Warren said.
“I believe in Tyson. I’ve believed in him since day one. I genuinely think that he’s the best heavyweight out there.”
If Usyk looks to the referee and starts complaining when Fury is hitting him to the body, you can say that he’s looking to play the ref.
On the other hand, Fury has a habit of roughing up his opponents, using rabbit punches and other mauling tactics.
The referee needs to police that, for sure. The recently leaked video showing when Fury was cut also revealed that he was holding and hitting. That stuff needs to be controlled by an assertive referee as well.
You can’t have Fury holding Usyk with his left arm around the neck while training him with his right.
