Tyson Fury looks to bounce back from the sole defeat of his professional career when he faces Oleksandr Usyk in a highly anticipated rematch on the 21st of December. The Ukrainian became the undisputed heavyweight world champion when he defeated ‘The Gypsy King’ via split decision back in May.
Although Fury saw the final bell that night, many believe that he was fortunate to make it to the end of the fight as it could have easily been stopped in the ninth round. The Morecambe man was in trouble after a barrage of punches from Usyk sent him reeling back into the ropes. Rather than stopping the fight, though, the referee opted to give the Brit a standing eight count, allowing him to continue in the contest.
From that point, Fury needed to do something big to turn the tide in the bout. However, there wasn’t much in the way of tactical instruction coming from the Fury corner, with Tyson’s father John instead opting to bellow at his son, telling him that he was up on the cards and that he didn’t need to seek a stoppage.
As it turned out, though, Fury was in need of a knockout in order to become the undisputed heavyweight champion – and his corner came in for plenty of criticism for not making that clear to their fighter. Tyson himself recently addressed those critics during an interview in promotion of the new ‘Undisputed’ boxing video game.
Tyson Fury Explains Why he Won’t be Making Changes to his Corner for Usyk Rematch
‘The Gypsy King’ scoffed at the idea he should make any ‘drastic’ moves
“I know what I’ve got to do, nothing drastic,” Fury told host Paul Dempsey of the rematch.
“People can say ‘I want to change trainers or I’ll blame it on me conditioning coach or I’ll blame it on the cook or I’ll blame it on the mouse next door. Same team, same everything, I know what I’ve got to do. I thought I won the fight last time.”
Reflecting on the first bout, Fury explained: “I give him, [after] me boxing all my life and watching boxing my whole career, I gave him rounds eight, nine and ten, and round nine was a 10-8. So that’s what I give him out of the fight, but obviously the judges saw it a bit different, couple of them did, one of them had me winning. That’s what it was, it was as close as it can be.”
| Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk judges’ scorecards | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manuel Oliver Palomo | Craig Metcalfe | Mike Fitzgerald | ||||
| Rounds | Tyson Fury | Oleksandr Usyk | Tyson Fury | Oleksandr Usyk | Tyson Fury | Oleksandr Usyk |
| Round 1 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Round 2 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Round 3 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 |
| Round 4 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Round 5 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Round 6 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Round 7 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Round 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Round 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Round 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Round 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Round 12 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Total | 112 | 115 | 114 | 113 | 113 | 114 |
Fury has no interest in chancing his luck with the judges in December, appearing to believe that he cannot win the rematch on the judges scorecards.
“There’s no secret, I’m going in there to knock him out because I don’t think I’m gonna get a decision no matter what I do,” argued Fury. So I have to take it out of the judges’ hands. I believe I have to get him out of there.”
Fury has scored KO wins in 24 of his 34 victories. If he can secure his 25th stoppage against Usyk, then it will be the biggest result of his professional career.
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