In effing Oleksandr Usyk out of it, Tyson Fury paid him the ultimate respect

Gavan Casey AFTER A WEEK-LONG psychological war which neither boxer even remotely bothered the other, Tyson Fury paid Oleksandr Usyk the ultimate compliment: he absolutely effed him out of it at the 11th hour.

Usyk would have understood the F-word, of course. Equally, he’d have understood that this torrent of apparent abuse from Fury was, perversely, a sign of great respect. Tonight will yield the first undisputed heavyweight title fight since Lennox Lewis bested Evander Holyfield in 1999 and it’s probably the first heavyweight fight since then in which both protagonists are truly comparable to the greats who preceded them.

But if he manages to inflict a first ever professional defeat on Fury tonight, another Usyk quote may outlive him. All of which goes a long way towards explaining why Tyson Fury’s F-bombs don’t exactly leave Oleksandr Usyk shaking in his boots. Incidentally, Fury was almost 16 pounds lighter on the scale on Friday than he was before his most recent bout with Ngannou. He was lighter, in fact, than he has been since he beat Otto Wallin in 2019.

Hey, boxing would be a brilliant profession if the other guy didn’t punch you back. And make no mistake about it: Usyk takes into this bout several of his own advantages.

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