Jai Opetaia says he would have liked to see Tyson Fury do more in his loss to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21 in Riyadh. He hoped that former WBC champion Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) would show a “different version” of himself in the second fight with Usyka (23-0, 14 KOs), but he was unable to do so.
Fury, 36, was different from the first fight. He was far, far worse and it looked like he wasn’t even trying to win the fight. It could be that Fury, with his adopted Fagin appearance from the movie Oliver Twist, was afraid of the knockout. So he played it safe and didn’t show Fagin’s ruthless and cunning traits to manipulate his way to victory.
The results were 116-112 x 3 for Usyk. As in the first fight, Fury refuses to accept defeat and complains that he deserved to win. He made a mess of himself at the post-fight press conference, saying: “I believe until the day I die that he won the fight.” Too bad his promoters didn’t put a muzzle on him to stop ranting. He looked like a classic example of bad sportsmanship in complete denial. I gave the score 118-110 for Usyk. It wasn’t even close.
Opetaja’s analysis
“I wanted a different version of Fury. I wanted him to do more, but I guess it’s the same thing. Usyk is just an animal. He is a beast,” said Jai Opetaia Stomping Groundreacting to Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury in their December 21 rematch.
“He is a little rabbit. He just doesn’t stop. It’s hard to beat such a great fighter. Hats off to Usyka because you can’t fake these things. It’s a tough job to be able to box like that for 12 rounds. It’s hard work. So you have to be able to respect that.
“If it happens, it happens. I’m always open to it,” Opetaia said when asked if he would be interested in fighting Usyko if he returns to the cruiserweight division. I would never put down a fight like that. It’s a fight I would take with both hands 100%.
There was nothing Fury could do to get a rematch. He needed a working time machine to bring back the young 2015 version of himself for the Usyk fight. This old version couldn’t do that.
“Right now I’m focused on eighth. I have a job to do. Let’s get it done,” Opetaia said of his title defense against David Nyika, the No. 10 contender in the IBF rankings.
