Gareth A. Davies says Tyson Fury’s nutritionist has said he is in “excellent condition” for a rematch with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21 in Riyadh. Davies claims Fury’s fitness has been “brilliant”.
A spent camp
The 281-lb Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) didn’t look “great,” and he certainly didn’t look “brilliant,” unless we dramatically lowered the bar for a fighter to meet that criteria. He looked like an out-of-shape, retired ex-athlete taking it easy.
Tyson looked like someone who had been sitting on the couch eating brownies and cakes for the past three months. He appeared to be carrying about 30 pounds of extra fat that shouldn’t have been around his waist. It’s a discipline problem.
For ‘The Gypsy King’ to go through a three-month boot camp and look like this suggests the following things:
- I didn’t work hard
- Cut the corners
- Eating too much
- Not enough cardio
For this important fight, Fury should not have weighed more than 247 lbsweight he came in for his historic win over Vladimir Klitschko Nov. 28, 2015. Fury has never weighed in at 240 since that bout, and hasn’t fared as well in any of his fights in the past nine years.
Lack of discipline
This tells you that Fury lacks discipline because he should have been able to cut down to the mid 240s if he worked hard and controlled his nutrition. Call it laziness, but he didn’t force himself to lose weight. He has been beaten twice by Usyk as a result and will likely lose to Anthony Joshua if that fight happens next.
“Fury has improved, but so has Usyk. His fitness for a 20-stone man was brilliant,” Gareth A. Davies told Boxing King Media on Tyson Fury’s physical condition for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21.
“I talked to his [Fury] nutritionist, and they said that he is in great condition and that he has a great camp. He showed it in the fight. Usyk was a little smarter. There were times when Fury, the giant, was trying to hit this smaller guy, and he was in and out and coming up just before he came out in those clinches in the last third of the fight.
“It was a close fight, it was definitely a close fight. It was a very physical, intriguing contest. It wasn’t an exciting fight, but it was so intriguing. It was a grueling fight for both of them. They went through 24 grueling rounds together,” Gareth said of Fury and Usyk.
The last two fights between Fury and Usyk have not been tough. Usyk worked Tyson in the ninth round of their first contest on May 18, but that was the only action-packed round of the 24 rounds they fought in which many punches landed. Their two fights were chess games, not grueling fights.
Fury has NOT improved. I don’t know what Gareth is talking about. He’s gotten worse and worse and seems incapable of beating any top heavyweight. Usyk is a good fighter, but some guys in the top 15 would beat him in his last two fights. He beat Fury and Anthony Joshua because neither is elite or A-level. They were overrated in their prime, and now they’re even worse.
“There is an obvious fight for Fury [Anthony Joshua] next, but not for Usyk. The obvious fight for Fury is Joshua, but for Usyk, will he fight Daniel Dubois again if he defeats Parker? Will he fight Parker if he defeats Dubois on February 22 and regains the undisputed title? It seems like the obvious path, but beyond that, what else is there for him [Usyk]?” said Gareth.
Usyk will likely fight the winner of Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker next. Eddie Hearn is pushing for Usyk to fight cruiserweight Jai Opetaia, but that probably won’t happen. Opetaia is a no-name for ordinary boxing fans, and it’s not a fight that would go well. If Turki Al-Shiekh wants to finance a battle between the two, that would be great, but other than that, Usyk is better off fighting the winner of Dubois-Parker to reclaim his undisputed championship.
