Tyson Fury doubts boxing fans will give him credit for beating Oleksandr Usyk in what he believes will be a "mismatch".
The Brit holds the WBC title, while Usyk has the WBO, IBF and WBA Super belts, as well as The Ring Magazine title. And it appears the pair are going to fight in the early part of next year, assuming Fury can get through Derek Chisora as expected in their trilogy bout next weekend.
Fury will tower over the Ukrainian at 6'9" to his 6'3", as well as holding a seven-inch reach advantage and likely weighing between 40-50lb heavier. And he believes the bout will be viewed by fans as an unimpressive victory, despite them currently being torn over who is the best heavyweight in the world.
Speaking with the Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel, Fury said: "I’ll tell you now what people are going to say when I splatter Usyk; they’re going to say ‘he was too small! It was a mismatch! He was never any good to Tyson. It was a mismatch.’ Whatever. And then we move on. How am I going to get credit for beating a man half me size? It’s all for me to lose and nothing to gain. ‘Oh, he beat a guy half of his size. Oh, [Usyk] beat the bodybuilder [Joshua]'."
Fury made a similar argument for if he were to ever beat Anthony Joshua, whom he has no interest in fighting any more after their fight talks fell apart this year. Having already lost three times, twice to Usyk and once to Andy Ruiz Jr, Fury reckons that fans will view Joshua as a less than impressive boxer. "Yeah, well you say the bodybuilder’s a bodybuilder, son," Fury added. "He ain’t no boxer.’ I said, ‘We’ll see. Proof’s in the pudding'.”
Will you be impressed if Tyson Fury beats Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Fans are already unimpressed with the undefeated world champion's decision to face Chisora in a trilogy bout, given that he has already beaten him comfortably twice. They would have preferred to have seen the Joshua fight be made, or Fury step up against the likes of Joe Joyce, Andy Ruiz Jr or Filip Hrgovic.
However, all will be forgiven if he can get an undisputed fight over the line a few weeks after the Chisora bout, with February the current timeframe for such a meeting. There hasn't been an undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era, with Lennox Lewis the last to do it in the early 2000s when there were only three major titles.
