Tyson Fury will “do Oleksandr Usyk at his own game” in their undisputed heavyweight title fight, says Frank Warren, as he warns about reading too much into the British fighter’s performance against Francis Ngannou last year.
Fury was floored in the third round by former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou on the Cameroonian’s professional boxing debut in October before winning via a contentious split decision to remain undefeated (34 wins and a draw versus Deontay Wilder).
Fury’s co-promoter Warren expects him to overcome Usyk, live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday May 18, pointing to how he outboxed Wladimir Klitschko to become champion in 2015 and then outpunched the hard-hitting Wilder to claim the WBC title five years later in the second instalment of their trilogy.
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Warren exclusively told Sky Sports: “[Tyson] got clipped in the [Ngannou] fight but he did what a champion does and that is get back into the fight. He’s got a good chin, recovers and won the fight.
“I wouldn’t look too much into that Ngannou fight. With Tyson, that’s probably his worst performance as a champion, against Ngannou. You look at all his other performances and he’s raised his game.
‘Fury is very, very smart’
“Years ago, when he fought Klitschko, it was pure boxing. He went out there and gave him a boxing lesson, in his adopted backyard in Germany.
“You look since the second fight with Wilder, he’s changed his style, he goes on the front foot and he’s throwing shots.
“He’s taking a few by the way, he’s had to get off the floor a few times, but he’s changed his style quite a bit. He’s shown what a puncher he is.
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“This thing about ‘he’s not a big puncher’. Go and look how many stoppages there are on his record. You only get stopped if you can’t take any more. That’s what he does.
“I think that’s what’s going to happen to Usyk. He’ll do him at his own game. Because he’s very, very smart.”
Fury and Usyk were scheduled to meet in February, only for a cut suffered by Fury above his right eye in sparring to push the fight back to May.
Warren: Fury is in marvellous condition
The winner will become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and the first in the four-belt era, and Warren feels his man will enter the bout in the best physical condition he has ever been in.
The founder of Queensberry Promotions added: “It was unfortunate he got the cut eye [that forced the Usyk fight to be postponed] because you only had to look at him, he was ripped. He said himself it was the hardest he’d ever worked.
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“But he works hard all the time. And he doesn’t just train for fights, he’s training every day. He’s doing what he didn’t do in the past when he was walking around probably 11st more than he is now.
“He keeps working hard but he’s going to be super-fit for this fight and I’ll tell you why – because even if he was carrying excess weight, he hasn’t got to lose it because he was so fit from the training before he got cut.
“He looks in marvellous, marvellous condition. As far as physical condition is concerned, he’ll be in the best shape I believe he’s ever been in.”
How to book Fury vs Usyk on Sky Sports Box Office
It’s one of the biggest sporting events in a generation. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk collide for the undisputed world heavyweight championship on Saturday May 18, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the fight now.