Boxing analyst Johnny Nelson doesn’t think Tyson Fury will take the rematch with Oleksandr Usyk. Nelson believes the 35-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) will never fight Usyk again after losing to him last month on May 18th.
A Downward Spiral
Johnny feels that Fury has been trying to make sense of what happened to him in his loss. He’s on a downward spiral now, similar to how he fell apart after his fight against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
This time, it’s different. Fury is now old, his skills deteriorating, and his youth long gone. Unlike back then, this time, there won’t be any bouncing back for the Gypsy King.
He doesn’t have the youth to come back, and the heavyweight division has too many talented fighters. Fury can’t depend on a spindly-legged, non-world class Deontay Wilder to make himself look like 24k gold to trick the public.
Nelson thinks Fury hasn’t been at his best since his first fight against Deontay Wilder in 2018, as that was the last time that he showed the physical skills that made him a good heavyweight.
Wilder knocked Fury out cold in the twelfth round of that fight, which saw the referee bizarrely give a count to an unconscious Tyson. That knockout of Fury took something out of him,
Since that fight, Fury has turned into a mauler who is wholly dependent on grabbing and leaning. Fury’s career had been propped up by soft match-making after in recent years, with him being matched against Wilder, Dereck Chisora, Dillian Whyte and Francis Ngannou.
When Fury was finally put in with a good fighter, Usyk, he lost and was exposed as the flabby mess that he is. There’s talk of a rematch between Fury and Usyk for December 21st, but if that does play out, most feel that it won’t end well for Tyson.
A Shadow of His Former Self
“I think Tyson Fury, the realization of what’s happened to him, will kick in slowly but surely. I don’t believe Tyson Fury will fight Oleksandr Usyk next or again,” said Johnny Nelson to Secondsout about his belief that Fury won’t take the rematch with undisputed heavyweight champion Usyk on December 21st.
Nelson sees the talk of a Fury-Usyk rematch as just hot air, and it won’t happen. Fury is so rich that he doesn’t need this, and he’s starting to realize that he doesn’t have it.
With the huge Getty-esque fortune that Fury is sitting on, he’s not motivated to rough it out the way he would need for him to have any hopes of clawing his way back. I don’t blame Fury.
When you have that much cash, who needs the aggravation of getting up in the morning, denying himself rich, calorie-dense foods, and torturing himself in the gym?
“He [Fury] either packs it in or Usyk retires or moves down [to cruiserweight],” said Nelson. “I don’t think he’ll get in with Usyk again. I think he’ll retire because of the fashion of his defeat, and he’ll just be struggling to deal with it.”
Yeah, Nelson is right. The Fury looked against Usyk and Francis Nganoue. He doesn’t have it anymore, and he never did. He would have lost to the then 39-year-old Wladimir if the Ukrainian talent had been younger and had let his hands go.
Wladimir gave away that fight by not throwing punches, which had a lot to do with his advanced age.
“That’s exactly what it is,” said Nelson, reacting to being told that Fury is beginning a spiral downward like he did after his fight against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. “I’m trying to say it without saying it, but to me, that’s exactly what it is.”
Fury’s collapse isn’t just mental. It’s physical, too. He’s gotten older and can’t move around like the young sprite he once was a decade ago. Even if Fury were mentally motivated, physically, he would still be an older fighter in his mid-30s, and he would have just as many problems against Usyk in the rematch as he would if he were eager.
“When you’re that successful financially and gotten to the top, unless you really love it and you’re prepared to rough it out and get back there again, why would you listen to anybody that you think is a lesser man than you to tell you what to do?” said Nelson.
“His first fight against Deontay Wilder [on December 1, 2018] was his last stellar performance. Tyson Fury may train right, but I feel the last time we saw the best of him was his first fight against Wilder.”
Fury’s performance against Wilder in their first fight in 2018 was far from stellar. He was just moving around, throwing weak shots, feinting, and clowning in that fight. Even as badly flawed as Wilder was, he still dropped Fury twice, knocking him unconscious in the twelfth round. For Fury, that was considered stellar for him, but not for a good heavyweight.
If Fury had fought Anthony Joshua back then or even the cruiserweight Usyk, he would have lost because was utterly beatable.
“Yeah, I don’t,” said Nelson when asked if he believes Fury will win the Usyk rematch. “Maybe his legs aren’t gone, but he’s not the fighter he was. His last fight and his fight before that [Francis Ngannou] told us that. Maybe it’s that time,” said Nelson about Fury needing to retire.
