Tonight brings us a highly anticipated rematch between the top 2 heavyweights on the planet in a fight that is very close to being decided, but I will dissect it and give my opinion on how to get there….
If we go back to the first fight 7 months ago, Fury may have won the fight in his head after 5 or 6 rounds as he sailed, and a combination of Fury's showmanship and Usyk's ability to adapt in the fight was Fury's undoing on this occasion.
Ultimately, the pivotal moment in that fight was the ninth round, which Usyk dominated and resulted in a 10-8 round in Usyk's favor. If this round had been 10-9 for Usyk, the fight would have ended in a majority draw. It's always about good margins at the peak of any sport and I think Fury can adjust and correct the mistakes to get the job done tonight.
Make no mistake about it, Usyk is a generational great and is the only fighter who hasn't been fazed by any of Fury's mind games that have led to a more focused, cooler version of Fury this time around. All the games are done and this is a very different Tyson Fury.
There's no doubt that Fury has a great boxing IQ, as does Usyk, but as far as rematches go I'm swinging hard for Fury to make the necessary adjustments to come back and get better than Usyk. Two notable matches that saw huge improvement, with the first match back in 2009 against John McDermott where Fury won a very poor decision, and many thought he could have lost.
In a rematch that was not immediate, but 3 fights and 9 months later, Fury won by a convincing stoppage in the 9th round. The most famous rematch was the second fight with Wilder. The first fight saw a poor recovery for Fury from a 12th round knockdown that resulted in a draw and like the Mcdermott rematch, Fury would come back again with Wilder 3 fights later. The second fight with Wilder ended with Fury obliterating him by stoppage in the seventh round.
This rematch is different for different reasons. Usyk is head and shoulders above both Mcdermott and Wilder. This is an immediate rematch and it can be said that both fighters are past their prime and reaching the end of their careers. Make no mistake about it though, as many of the great heavyweight wars including The Thrilla in Manilla in 1975 between Ali v Frazier in a trilogy, both fighters were past their prime and nearing the end of their careers, however, this It didn't affect it becoming one of the greatest matches in heavyweight history and I think this match may also live up to expectations.
If Usyk wins, I think this could be the last time we see both fighters in the ring again, which either of them could do. Fury is coming off a losing streak, Usyk is a unified champion in two weight divisions and has already beaten 2 major contenders including current IBF world champion Daniel Dubois and former world champion Anthony Joshua.
A win for Fury would open up the division to either a trilogy with Usyk, a huge fight with Anthony Joshua or another unification fight with the winner of Dubois V Parker, although if Parker wins that's another story because Parker and Fury are very close, but the point remains that a win Fury will make more money than Usyk winning and that's a fact.
It is again very difficult to determine how to win this match and a very interesting statistic came to mind. Usyk has never been officially knocked down in his professional career yet, however, he was knocked out by unified world light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev by a tough body that the amateurs responded to in 2011. This was a knockout in the final round and other interesting statistics is that Fury has won by knockout in every round except the 12th.
My prediction is that Fury will be stopped in the 12th round because these stats are screaming at me and I think Fury will want to leave it all in the ring this time.
I can see it coming down to points but I want to make a bold prediction and I will put a few pounds on Fury by the 12th round KO.
What do readers expect…?
