Why Oleksandr Usyk rematch could be one war too many for Tyson Fury

It was the biggest stage in heavyweight boxing and for the first time in a 16-year career, Tyson Fury was second best.

As the ‘Gypsy King’ surrendered his WBC title to the new undisputed king of the division in Oleksandr Usyk last May, boxing’s landscape was redrawn with his place at the top of the table gone, temporarily at least.

Fury’s odyssey back to the summit of boxing was a glorious one. After returning to the ring in 2018 after his struggles with addiction and depression, it reached its apex with his world title victory over Deontay Wilder in 2020. There have been equally thrilling nights since – that wild trilogy bout with the American, knocking out Dillian Whyte in front of 90,000 at Wembley, the crossover spectacle against Francis Ngannou – but some of those battles have left scars.

The sight of Fury almost mythically rising from the canvas has been one to behold and has become synonymous with his reign at the top. But the damage taken in being knocked down in the first place can’t be ignored. The punishment has only grown more ferocious as he has gotten older. The question has often been asked, how much more can he take?

Fury has been knocked to the mat eight times in his career – six of those coming since returning to the sport six years ago with Usyk becoming the latest to do so earlier this year. Ngannou shocked the world when he sent the Briton tumbling down in October last year in a fight the former UFC champion was unfortunate to lose.

Getting knocked down is clearly part of the game in heavyweight boxing when you are surrounded by giants. Being able to get back up is what matters. But those incidents have totted up for Fury with his friendand former trainer Ricky Hatton identifying it as a potential issue earlier this year.

‘Tyson deserves the benefit of the doubt. I hope I’m wrong when I say this, but there is a concern that perhaps Tyson is getting too many miles on the clock now,’ the former world champion said. ‘He’s been in some wars, has Tyson, he’s taken some big hits.’

Having reigned undefeated for so long, defeat to Usyk left Fury in a position he has never been before. Having got things right for so long, making changes towards the end of a hugely successful career can be problematic, particularly when that career has secured the vast riches Fury has collected in recent years.

With Fury earning more than most sportsmen will collect in their lives, former world champion Johnny Nelson is among those left to question whether the desire to learn and adapt is still there.  

‘Of course he is not the fighter he was, Nelson said. ‘When everything is asked of him, he doesn’t have everything to give anymore. He isn’t as sharp and he has lived differently. He is a multi-millionaire. So his drive and ambition is different. His circle is different. No one is going to tell Tyson something he doesn’t want to hear anymore.

‘When you are in that position, you can stop learning. And Tyson has stopped learning from outside in and that is where the problems lies.

‘The Ngannou fight told me the legs aren’t they anymore. It’s like an old-school footballer who is now getting on. He still has the skill as long as the ball is still there in front of him. He’ll do all the tricks and ping the ball around but when he’s got to use his legs and run about like the youngsters, that’s when you see the wear and tear.’

A combination of having many long, hard miles on the clock and a comfortable life back home will inevitably leave many fighters questioning their future at a point in their careers.

Fury still has unfinished business in the sport. While the chance to become undisputed champion has gone for now with the IBF title out of the equation this week, revenge is a huge motivator. Regardless of what transpires in the ring in Riyadh on Saturday night, there also remains the small matter of Fury vs Anthony Joshua with a huge fight purse waiting for both men even if both enter as recently defeated fighters now past their prime.

Fury is now 36 and for years, has toyed with the subject of retirement. While he has laid out plans to fight Joshua twice after his business with Usyk is settled, Nelson believes something has shifted.

The former cruiserweight champion, who hung up the gloves in 2005, has experienced that first-hand with the feeling of that fire suddenly burning out something that can’t be ignored.

‘I felt it myself,’ Nelson recalled. ‘I had a fight coming up and I would get up at 3am to go running. I heard the rain banging outside and it was pitch black out there. I said to myself, “I don’t want to run today” and went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning and didn’t feel guilty about it, I knew it was over.

‘The fire in my belly would have never let that happen before. The hunger, that reason for getting up at stupid o clock in the morning was part of what drove you, that made you work so hard. So when I rolled over and went back to sleep that morning, I gave myself that excuse and I was not comfortable with it. I knew the day was coming when someone who shouldn’t me would beat me.’

Nelson continued: ‘If you’re a champion who really believes you are the best in the world and you lose, it takes a massive hit on your psyche, your self-belief, your confidence. You are so used to being top dog, now you know are beatable. Knowing some of that super human ability is gone makes a huge difference.

‘You get to that that stage in your career and you get up in the morning, it’s absolutely freezing out there and you’re in your nice warm bed and you can think, “nah I can’t be bothered today”. And it’s easy to do that, especially when you’re in a big house. You don’t have to do it anymore. When that happens, you know that fire is gone and your just going through the motions.

‘I think Tyson is an unbelievable position, worth hundreds of millions. But the reasons for getting up to train and fight are different now, it’s more ego than anything else That’s what Tyson Fury is doing as far as I’m concerned.’

This weekend’s heavyweight world title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is available to purchase on DAZN

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