After nine years of studying, a student should be able to pass the exam, the test……if he has the tools to do so. And so it is with Oleksandr Usyk, who has revealed how he has been studying and preparing for Tyson Fury for nine long years, since the day Fury upset Usyk’s countryman Wladimir Klitschko to become world heavyweight champion.
Usyk, speaking with just three weeks to go until he and Fury will finally meet, this with all four heavyweight belts on the line, the fight to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, says he began preparing to fight both Fury and Anthony Joshua in 2015.
“I’ve been preparing for this fight for a few years now, since he beat Wladimir,” Usyk said of the upcoming, historic fight with Fury. “He didn’t know about me back then because I wasn’t famous in the world of boxing, but I have been preparing for him and Anthony Joshua from the very beginning. Since I started professional boxing.”
If this is indeed the case – and there really is no reason to doubt Usyk, who said even before he had won a world title at cruiserweight that his goal was to become world heavyweight champion – the southpaw from Ukraine should know Fury, 34-0-1(24) like the back of his hand. Usyk, a man with a proven boxing IQ, a superior boxing IQ, will have a game plan (or game plans) in place for how to beat Fury, his vast homework having seen to it that he knows all of Fury’s moves and techniques. But here’s the thing – has Usyk got the physical tools needed to beat Fury? Simply put, is Usyk physically big enough for the task at hand?
It really is a fascinating match up and we fans have waited so long to see it happen. Finally it’s here, and Usyk more than anyone will be relieved to be in that ring with Fury at long last. Some people believe intense prep work and hard training for a fight is harder than the actual fight itself. If this is the case here, Usyk, 21-0(14) will win hands down. But there could, in fact there almost certainly will be more to this fight than which of the two rival champions prepared the best.
The closer this fight gets, the more the fans and experts seem to have changed their opinion on who wins and how. It is so tough to pick a winner here, as it is tough predicting just HOW the winner prevails. Will we see a distance fight or will one guy get stopped, or even quit?
Three weeks today we will be just a few hours away from getting our answer(s).