BEFORE their press conference devolved into strange exchanges of one-word answers, Tyson Fury acknowledged yesterday that he is more focused and less complacent ahead of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk than he was before their first fight.
Morecambeโs Fury, 36, and Ukraineโs Usyk, 37, were in London to promote their second heavyweight title bout, which will take place December 21 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For Fury, it is an opportunity to regain his WBC heavyweight title and take the WBA, WBO and IBO belts from Usyk, who won their initial 12-round bout by split decision May 18 at Kingdom Arena.
Most (U.S) sportsbooks have installed Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) as almost a 2-1 favourite to defeat Fury (34-4-1, 24 KOs) in their immediate rematch.
โItโs actually been about four-and-a-half years โ [it] was the [Deontay] Wilder [rematch], the last time I was the underdog in these fights,โ said Fury, who was a slight favourite versus Usyk five months ago. โWhatโs going through me mind? Iโm just looking forward to a fantastic fight. You know, last time, in May, it was a fantastic fight. Oleksandr won the fight fair and square. Iโm just looking to put on a great fight again.
โYou know, it was very close last time. He got it by a point. Iโm a little bit more focused, a little bit more lack of complacency. And I should do the job, what I need to do. You know, itโs nothing drastic has to change โ a bit more of the same. A little bit more focused, like I say. And I will be victorious.โ
Canadian judge Craig Metcalfe scored Fury a 114-113 winner over Usyk on May 18. Wisconsinโs Mike Fitzgerald (114-113) and Spainโs Manuel Oliver Palomo (115-112) scored their closely contested fight for Usyk, who was credited with a knockdown during the ninth round.
Usyk became boxingโs first fully unified heavyweight champ of the four-belt era. He has since given up the IBF belt, now owned by Londonโs Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs).
Frank Warren, Furyโs co-promoter, is confident Fury will leave the ring with Usykโs titles this time around.
โIt was a magnificent fight โ unbelievably, top-quality heavyweight bout,โ Warren said yesterday. โAnd the next one is gonna be, I think, every bit as good, if not better, because theyโve been in the ring with each other.
“Theyโve shared that ring and now theyโve got respect for each other. And I know theyโll be looking for clues to try and negate what they feel the other guyโs best moves will be and so forth. But you know what? Itโs just gonna be great. Itโs gonna be great. And I believe in Tyson. I believed in him from day one. And I believe he can go and do this, and do his business in style.โ