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Tyson Fury unimpressed by ‘average’ Oleksandr Usyk

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WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has aired his views on rival Anthony Joshua’s mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk.

Recording a second top division victory over Derek Chisora on Halloween, Usyk can now face Joshua before Fury.

Unimpressed by Usyk’s decision to triumph over his former two-time opponent, Fury recently aired his views in an interview with British journalist Gareth A. Davies.

He said: “Styles makes fights. Derek Chisora will give anybody a hard night’s work, and he’s shown that repeatedly.

“No one can humiliate Derek Chisora. He’s fit and determined. But styles make fights, and obviously, the style wasn’t what he was looking for on the night.

“He’s learned from that. Did we see the best Oleksandr Usyk? I’m not sure. I don’t know.

“On that performance, I can say that none of the top fifteen heavyweights out there are sweating about Oleksandr Usyk at the moment, unfortunately.

Oleksandr Usyk Chisora
Dave Thompson

“None of us are quaking. Everyone is like, ‘okay, is that what all the hype was about?’ It is what it is. This is the heavyweight game.

“Heavyweights aren’t what they used to be, and Chisora is probably the smallest heavyweight out there.

“Being brutally honest, when he fights a big heavyweight who can punch a bit, I think he’ll be like a lamb to slaughter.”

Cruiserweight

Fury continued: “My opinion of it, it’s the heavyweight division and not the cruiserweight division for a reason. But I understand every cruiserweight who does well wants to step up to heavyweight to get that big money.

“They all want a piece of the pie. There are divisions for reasons. After his last performance, I obviously thought he was better than he was.

“I highly rated Oleksandr Usyk as a technician at cruiserweight. But at heavyweight there was nothing to impress me, to be fair. It was an average, mediocre performance.”

At present, Joshua will be forced to relinquish his WBO title if he doesn’t face Usyk in the first half of 2021. The problem with that is Fury has agreed to battle Joshua for the undisputed crown at the same time.

Something has to be worked out between both parties to keep Fury vs. Joshua for all the marbles. Luckily enough, Usyk is co-promoted by Joshua’s handler Eddie Hearn, who will undoubtedly reach into his pockets to give Usyk extra incentive to delay his bid until the latter part of next year.

Phil Jay is Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay.