Oleksandr Usyk Hints At Gameplan for Tyson Fury: ‘You Never See A Fat Wolf In the Forest’

Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) plans to be ‘fast and quick’ when he fights Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) on February 17 in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed heavyweight championship. The winner of Usyk and Fury will become the first heavyweight to be undisputed since Lennox Lewis in 1999, and the Ukrainian believes his movement will be key to emerging victorious.

“To win this, I don’t need to be heavy,” Usyk told Ring Magazine. “I need to be fast and quick. You never see a fat wolf in the forest.” Usyk will be the lightest boxer Fury has fought since Steve Cunningham in 2013, who ‘The Gypsy King’ was dropped by in round two before making a strong comeback and scoring a knockout in round seven.

In his last bout against Daniel Dubois, Usyk tipped the scales at 221 pounds, whereas Fury came in at 277 for his contest against Francis Ngannou, and there is likely to be a massive weight difference between the pair on fight night.  But after becoming undisputed at cruiserweight and moving up to heavyweight in 2019, Usyk has always been much lighter than his opponent. This includes Anthony Joshua, who Usyk defeated on consecutive occasions to become a unified world champion despite being outweighed by around 20 pounds.

This also includes other heavyweight opponents, such as Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora, who weighed over 30 pounds heavier than Usyk, and most recently, Daniel Dubois, who had a 12 pound weight advantage.

In addition to his in-ring agility, Usyk has implied that his strong mindset could also cause Fury problems. “I really don’t think about Tyson Fury. I don’t look at the way he acts and what he does. Most of his opponents fell for it. I don’t… I don’t care about what Fury thinks about me. He can underestimate me. He can overestimate me. I don’t care. I have my plans for him.”

Fury is coming off a controversial split-decision win over Ngannou on October 28, yet the Brit is still undefeated in 35 fights and famously returned from a two and half year lay-off to become WBC heavyweight champion by defeating Deontay Wilder.

Fury-Usyk will cost $69.99 to purchase on PPV.com & DAZN PPV while the spectacle will be broadcast on TNT Sports PPV, DAZN PPV, and Sky Sports PPV in the UK for a to-be-confirmed price.

Daniele D’Alessio

A passionate writer and sports journalist with over 3 years of work experience in journalism, content writing and marketing.

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