Fury was beaten by Usyk in May but has insisted he won’t change his approach ahead of the rivals’ rematch next month
Tyson Fury has branded rivals Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois “limited” ahead of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury is preparing for his sequel with Usyk having lost to the Ukrainian in their undisputed world title fight in May. Only three belts will be on the line in Riyhad four days before Christmas as Fury attempts to avenge his sole career defeat. And the Brit has no plans to change his style, despite almost being stopped by Usyk.
Asked how he will approach the rematch, Fury told TNT Sports: “Pretty much the same as I did before, good boxing. Someone of my size and heaviness, it’s not normal that I should be able to box and slip, so why would I take that away from my game? People say to me I need to walk forward on Usyk, walk him down and hit him, but if it was so easy why didn’t Joshua, who is a big strong man, do that? Why didn’t Dubois do it? Those men are limited compared to me, very limited.
“A man who walks forward to him is Christmas come early. I’m a side-on boxer, slipping, sliding, uppercutting, hooking, I’m going to do that but with more focus. A little bit more focused on my job, I think that’s my way to victory.” Fury also confirmed he won’t make any changes to his corner after his dad John came in for criticism for his role in the defeat.
Fury Sr was one of three voices yelling instructions to to Fury between rounds, alongside trainers SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee. But Fury insists he has ignored those calling for him remove his dad. “People can have opinions… but at the end of the day they’re not in the ring doing the fighting so it’s unimportant what they think about what’s going on in my corner. If I’m happy, the world’s happy, and I’m happy.”
Usyk insisted he was never hurt by Fury, while the beaten man denied the fight should have been stopped when he came under huge pressure in the ninth round. “It’s the world heavyweight title fight, undisputed [so the fight should not have been stopped].” he said. “At least a man’s got to go down to the floor and someone like me, who has been down loads of times, who gets back up, at least give me one chance.
“I’m a big believer in God. So I believe that God has a plan for everybody, and the plan was for Usyk to win this fight. And he did, so fair play. I knew it was a close fight. I thought I’d done enough, but listen, I don’t complain. He’s got the victory. I was happy for him. I congratulated him. I was happy that we both went home to our family safe.”
