Tony Bellew says he sees Tyson Fury as being on the slide after watching his recent performance against journeyman Derek Chisora on December 3rd, and he feels that Oleksandr Usyk has a good chance of beating him.
Fury is 34, and most would agree that he’s likely got two or three fights left in him before he calls it a day.
Bellew notes the changes that Fury’s trainer SugarHill Steward has made to his game have resulted in him getting hit a lot more than he used to.
While it’s excellent that Fury is sitting down on his shots more than when he was younger and is fighting more aggressively, he gets hit a lot now and is vulnerable.
Fury was dropped twice in his trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder, and he was lucky not to be knocked out due to what many fans felt was a slow count by the referee.
What’s hurt Fury’s game more than anything is how he’s lost his desire to fight the best opposition. Instead of fighting the best, he’s been content to take the easy fights against Chisora and Dillian Whyte.
Fury could have fought Anthony Joshua recently but chose Chisora instead, which many boxing fans saw as a duck job by ‘The Gypsy King.’
“Could you imagine if he does beat Fury because, believe you me, it’s not a given? I think he’s got a chance. If anything, I think he has more than a chance now,” said Tony Bellew to talkSPORT Boxing about his belief that IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has a good chance of beating WBC champ Tyson Fury on April 29th.
“The more this goes on, the better it benefits Oleksandr Usyk because the perfect athlete, Fury, isn’t. Fury is someone that needs to be busy.
“The last fight, the shutout against Derek Chisora, won’t have done him any good. That’s not going to benefit him going into a fight against Oleksandr Usyk whatsoever. If anything, I’ve seen more flaws from the Derek Chisora fight than pluses.
“That may be because he knows what he can do against this man. Against Deontay Wilder, he was phenomenal. He looked powerful, he looked strong, but against Derek Chisora, I didn’t see anything. I think he may be the one on the slide,” said Bellew.
