Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) vs. Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs)
When: Saturday, February 17, 2024
Where: Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
TV: PPV
Weight Class: Undisputed Heavyweight Title
Betting Odds: Tyson Fury (-135), Oleksandr Usyk (+105)—Odds by Bovada
Fight Analysis:
Tyson Fury takes on Oleksandr Usyk on February 17 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. It’s a giant heavyweight battle, a legacy-defining fight between two reigning champions in the same division—the de facto number one and two guys in the weight class. Fury is more the established force at heavyweight, having beaten Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 for the belt. But Usyk has proven himself since moving up to heavyweight with some big wins of his own. This will determine who is the champion. So, who is it going to be? Let’s break it down!
The current state of Fury needs to be viewed a few different ways. He’s 35 now and with a lifetime of fighting and some outside-the-ring abuse, let’s just say he’s not a young 35. His last fight was a rough-looking performance against a guy who was ultra-dangerous in Ngannou, but a pro boxing debutant, nonetheless. His condition was ragged, he looked exceptionally sloppy, and he was cut in the fight. With that being in late-October, this fight had to be pushed back, but is it enough time for him to shake off that last outing, get himself in better condition, and enter this in peak form? Against a fighter of Usyk’s caliber, he can’t afford to leave many loose ends.
At the same time, an older veteran like Fury is perhaps given some benefit of the doubt as he likely underestimated Ngannou and phoned in his performance, to his own detriment. We’ve seen aging champions match up their urgency to the perceived level of threat and sometimes, they miscalculate, as Fury did against the capable Ngannou. Therefore, using that as fuel to propel a pick against Fury in this spot could be costly. Fury has shown that he can summon the correct amount of urgency and motivation when taking on someone from his arena.
Still, you almost wonder if Fury could be caught underestimating Usyk. He surely respects Usyk from a skills and accomplishments point of view. But in his biggest fights, namely the ones against Deontay Wilder, he was facing a tall assassin who can level you with one shot. Usyk is a former cruiserweight who moved up, now taking on the giant of the division in the six-nine Fury. Will it register differently with Fury? It would be trouble if he figures his size and resumé will insulate him from the full scope of Usyk’s skills and that he’s safe with Usyk not really being a one-shot KO artist like some of Fury’s tougher opponents.
While you’d prefer to not have Fury overly-depend on size, his physical stature and bulk would seem to go a long way in this matchup. And with Usyk scoring the wins he has scored in the heavyweight division, with the two huge wins over Joshua, it could be foolish to dwell on how Usyk fought most of his career as a cruiserweight. I think the better route to take is to acknowledge how much of a winner he is, having won an Olympic gold medal and cleaning out the cruiserweight division better than anyone ever has, before making his mark with the big boys. This is not an easy man to beat—a cunning strategist with an elevated level of ring know-how.
