Shakur Stevenson is giving Tyson Fury the edge to defeat unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night in their rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Shakur’s Prediction
The WBC lightweight champion Stevenson says Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) will win if he is in “shape” and stays “focused. ” Shakur gives Fury a 55-45 chance of defeating WBA, WBC, and WBO champion Usyk.
The bearded Fury looks in shape for him, but that may not make a difference. He was in shape last time he fought Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) on May 18th, and still lost the fight by a 12-round split decision.
Fury’s problem isn’t his conditioning. It’s his glass jaw from his three fights with Deontay Wilder. He can’t take a punch anymore, and Usyk will expose that weakness on Saturday, just like he did in their previous fight when he had him out on his feet in the ninth round in Riyadh.
Usyk so great tho bro it’s so hard going against him over the course of a 12 round fight.. I’m like 55-45 Fury on this one.. All Fury gotta do is come in shape and stay focused for the entire fight!!
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) December 16, 2024
Destructive Force?
“I’m looking forward to a fight that I’m going to win and be destructive and spiteful in,” said Tyson Fury to Queensberry Promotions, predicting a win against Oleksandr Usyk. “I was landing at will basically. They said I couldn’t come forward, and then me and SugarHill [Steward] come together, and I became a destructive puncher and began knocking everyone out.”
The opponents Fury has knocked out since teaming up with SugarHill Steward in December 2019 were nothing special. Since then, Fury has knocked out two British-level heavyweights, and Deontay Wilder, a non-world-class fighter, maneuvered into winning his WBC world title by clever matchmaking.
Fury’s Knockouts Under SugarHill’s Watch
– Dereck Chisora: *Journeyman
– Dillian Whyte: Ditto
– Deontay Wilder x 2
If Fury had knocked out some of the good heavyweights, like Martin Bakole or Daniel Dubois, then you could say SugarHill transformed him into a “destructive puncher,” but he’s beaten three scrubs.
Rationalizing Defeat
“He won this fight by one point last time, by a round,” said Fury about Usyk. “If one of those other rounds, I’d have got it from one of those rounds from one to twelve. If the rounds had been identical in the rounds that I’d won and lost, then it would have been a draw,” said Fury, trying to rationalize.
“If I had gotten any of the other rounds and I didn’t get a 10-8, I would have won it.”
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