By: Sean Crose
“I didn’t think he beat me last time,” Tyson Fury recently said to IFL, “and I’m damn sure not going to let him beat me this time.” Fury, for those who don’t know, lost a war to Oleksandr Usyk last May on the cards in Saudi Arabia. He doesn’t want things to work out the same way when the two men meet again in Saudi Arabia this December. “I’ve got to knock Usyk out, and I’ll be training for a good knockout…and that’s what I will do.”
Fury, who is renowned for his outspoken, boisterous manner, went on to emphasize that he would, in fact, be starching Usyk within the distance. “I’m going to knock this c–t out this time,” he said. “Believe it first. See it first in your mind and execute it out there. I can’t take anything away from the ugly b—–d Usyk. I can’t say that I didn’t prepare or do any training. I did what I had to do. He’s got the decision over me, and we got to run it back.”
Reflecting on the loss to the intensely skilled Usyk, Fury argued that it wasn’t an entirely bad thing, “It makes sense to do the rematch and get my victory back. I’ve gotten past the point of really caring. It probably took that decision to wake me up and give me the type of aggression back where I want to smash someone in.”
Fury is known to go from acting enthusiastic to acting disinterested at the drop of the figurative hat…and he never lets on if he’s engaging in mind games or simply changing his mind frequently. At the moment, however, he appears determined to avenge his loss to Usyk – the first and only loss Fury has suffered in a 36 fight career.
“I have somebody who has a win over me,” he said, “who broke me and took my virginity, and stole it back to wherever he lives.” And now the man wants to repay Usyk the favor. “That’s what I am concerned about,” said Fury. “I’m not concerned about (Anthony Joshua) and what he is doing. I’ve got a man holding my balls, let’s just say, for the moment.”
Without doubt, Usyk-Fury 2 is one of the most anticipated fights of the year, if not the single most anticipated fight, at least in part because it’s hard to pick a winner in advance – the first fight having been so close.