Tonight brings us the anticipated rematch between the 2 best Heavyweights on the planet in a fight that is too close to call, but I will dissect and give my opinion on how this could pan out….
If we go back to the first fight 7 months ago, Fury may have had the fight won in his head after 5 or 6 rounds as he was cruising and a mixture of both Fury showboating and Usyk’s ability to adjust in a fight was the undoing of Fury on this occasion.
Ultimately the pivotal moment in that fight was the 9th round, which Usyk dominated and resulted in 10 – 8 round in favour of Usyk. Had this round been 10 – 9 to Usyk then the fight would have ended in a Majority draw. It always comes down to fine margins at the peak of any sport and I believe 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 has not been fazed by any of Fury’s mind games which has resulted in a more focused and colder version of Fury this time. All the games are done and this a very different Tyson Fury.
There is no doubt that Fury has a great boxing IQ, as does Usyk, however, in terms of rematches then I strongly sway with Fury making the necessary adjustments to come back and improve more than Usyk. 2 notable rematches that seen a massive improvement with the first one being back in 2009 against John Mcdermott where Fury won a razor thin decision, and many thought he could have lost.
In the rematch which was not immediate, but 3 fights and 9 months later, Fury won with a convincing 9th round stoppage. The more notable rematch was the 2ndfight with Wilder. The first fight had a vulnerable Fury recover from a 12th round knockdown which resulted in a draw and like the Mcdermott rematch, Fury would rematch with Wilder 3 fights later. The 2nd fight with Wilder ended with Fury obliterating him with a 7th round stoppage.
This rematch is different for various reasons. Usyk is head and shoulders above both Mcdermott and Wilder. This is an immediate rematch and both fighters are arguably past their peak 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 their trilogy had both fighters past their peak and edging towards the end of their careers, this however, did not impact on becoming one of the greatest matches in heavyweight history and I think this one may also live up to expectations.
If Usyk was to win, then I think this may be the last time we see both fighters in the ring again as what more could either do. Fury would be coming off back-to-back loses, Usyk has been unified champion in 2 weight divisions and has already beat 2 of the leading contenders including the current IBF world champion Daniel Dubois and former world champion Anthony Joshua.
A Fury win would open up the division for either a trilogy with Usyk, a massive fight with Anthony Joshua or another unified fight with the winner of Dubois V Parker, although if Parker wins that is another story as Parker and Fury are very close, but the point remains that a Fury win will generate more money than a Usyk win and that is a fact.
How this match can be won is again very difficult to call and a very interesting stat jumps out to me. Usyk has never been officially knocked down in his professional career to date, however, he was knocked down by the unified Light Heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev by a cruel body shot back in the amateurs in 2011. This knockdown was in the final round and the other interesting stat is that Fury has won by KO in every single round except round 12.
My prediction is a 12th round stoppage for Fury as this stat just screams out to me and I am thinking Fury will want to leave it all in the ring this time.
I can see it going to points but I want to make a bold prediction and will be sticking a few pounds on Fury by 12th round KO.
What do the readers predict…..?
