Oleksandr Usyk laughed off Tyson Fury’s claims that he’s just a "pumped-up middleweight" and scoffed at any idea that he and the Gypsy King won’t meet.
Fury, who said he'd fight Dereck Chisora last week, only to claim he'd retired again two days later, rubbished suggestions in February that Usyk would be a more difficult opponent than Deontay Wilder.
Fury said: “Hell no. Are you joking? You’ve got the most powerful in the history of our sport [Wilder] and what’s Usyk going to do? Tip, tip, tip, tip tip… Tap dance around the ring and run away? He didn’t do any damage at all to Anthony Joshua and definitely ain't doing damage to me. I'll obliterate him. He’s a cruiserweight. He’s a middleweight, a pumped-up middleweight! He was a middleweight in the amateurs, 75kg. I was a super-heavyweight at 11 years old.”
But Usyk responded: “I want to laugh every time I watch him and listen to him. He told me completely different things to my face but I am not going to tell you what he told me.” Asked if he thought the pair would meet, Usyk nodded and added: “I know we are fighting.” Meanwhile, Joshua admits he’d find boxing Usyk tough if the roles were reversed and his homeland was besieged by war. And the former world heavyweight champion has nothing but respect for the way the man who dethroned him took up arms to help defend Ukraine in February following the invasion by Russia. The two men will meet on Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 11 months after they clashed for the first time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Joshua said: “If it was me, yes, my country being at war would definitely have an impact and I don’t know if it would be positive or negative. I don’t know how I would deal with it but I know it would be tough. I have never lived in anything like a conflict like that, so I don’t know the sort of ramifications it would have on me. But I respect what he has done 100 per cent. It’s his home, isn’t it? You have to defend your home.
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“It is such a shame that civilians get the worst end of the bargain in wars, when it is a political issue. He is just trying to defend his community so I respect him. I would have done the same, not as a boxer or a warrior, just as a general person. People have decided not to leave and to defend their homes, that has nothing to do with being a warrior. I respect what he has done.”
Joshua, by his own admission, simply failed to make use of the considerable size advantage he holds over Usyk, although he is adamant that won’t be the case this time. Asked if he plans to use his size and power more in the rematch, he added: “Yes, it’s evident isn’t it? It’s not a secret. They are things that I need to use but it’s easier said than done. So we work on it, that’s why training camps are so challenging and why you usually see a fighter straight on the beach after a fight, because it’s draining. It’s evident that I am stronger and bigger and, if I can impose my strengths on him, I will have a better chance of winning the fight.”
