WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has predicted a knockout win for Oleksandr Usyk against Anthony Joshua on Saturday night in London.
Joshua’s IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles will be on the line when he takes on Ukrainian challenger Usyk inside theTottenham Hotspur Stadium.
And speaking with BoxingScene.com, Fury envisions Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) having a lot of difficulty dealing with the technically sound southpaw.
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Fury questioned the 6-feet-6, 245-pound Joshua’s stamina, as well as his ability to out-think the intelligent, skillful Usyk.
“I expect AJ to come out trying to box a bit more because of this new way he boxes now and uses his jab,” Fury said. “And he knows he doesn’t have the stamina to take a fight to somebody under sustained pressure, and keep that up, because he gasses after about three rounds.
“And then he needs to take three or four rounds off. So, he wouldn’t be able to do that against Usyk because Usyk will be on him all the time, making him fight.
“So, I expect it to be awkward, maybe a bit of a chess match for a few rounds. And I expect AJ to run out of ideas, really. If he doesn’t land on him early and get him out of there with big punches, then I see it being a tough night for AJ and maybe even a stoppage loss.”
Despite his reservations regarding Joshua’s chances Saturday night, Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), who is consistently listed as a 3-1 favorite over Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), admitted that he views this as a “50-50 fight.”
“I’m not a betting man, so I don’t really bet,” Fury said. “But, you know, I think it’s a real pick ‘em fight. Whoever you’d like to pick on the night maybe would win, but you know, I can make a lot of reasons why AJ would lose this fight and Usyk would win. One is he’s a big southpaw and he’s awkward and, you know, a slick boxer.
“I think he punches harder than people give him credit for. But it’s not how hard you punch – you’ve just gotta keep hitting that target and, sooner or later, the big bodybuilder will fall apart at the seams, like an old, cheap cushion, falling to bits, all the bits falling off it. And he runs out of ideas quite quickly as well, Joshua. He’s a one-trick pony.”
