- PLUS, what I think is next for Oleksandr Usyk after Daniel Dubois challenge
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Ultimately Tyson Fury has paid the price for his lifestyle away from the ring.
He came into this rematch with the right attitude, the right intent but the delivery just wasn’t there.
Normally we see Fury firing off instinctive shots that have been good enough to knockout fighters. I think he threw half a dozen here and spent the rest of the fight overthinking, pondering about how he should set up his next shot, reacting instead of activating. He was thinking too much about who was in front of him.
It was the right decision to come in heavier as it allowed him to set up the fight the way he did, leading at Round Five, but after that he was too indecisive, his legs just weren’t there and he was left with just a puncher’s chance in the last few rounds when he needed to step it up.
His lifestyle has caught up with him. You can’t live the fighter’s life for three months a year then abandon it for the rest. We saw that with Ricky Hatton. It takes its toll.
Oleksandr Usyk exhausts you mentally as well as physically. When he sees Fury being helped out of a pub in Morecambe, he’ll be lifted by that. He won’t be thinking ‘that guy strikes fear into my soul’. Going off the rails has become a habit for Fury. For all his talent, I don’t think Fury has fought well since his second bout with Deontay Wilder.
Tyson Fury was unable to exact revenge on Oleksandr Usyk when they rematched on Saturday
The 37-year-old suffered from being too tentative as attempted to find his openings
Fury should walk away from boxing with his legacy intact. A trilogy would end the same way
He is a fighter who has defied logic, moving like a 12 stone man when he weighs nearly 20 stone, but not living the right life ages you as a boxer and that’s why he was looking the most vulnerable after Round Six on Saturday night.
I hope he walks away from boxing now but he’ll find that hard. I know he will go to a dark place.
Pride is huge for Fury and he may yet decide ‘I want one more go’ but the only end goal will be more money.
Fury and Anthony Joshua can become prize fighters for one last dance. That’s what the people around them will want because of the wealth at stake but I’m not convinced that is what Fury and AJ want.Â
Their ideal was always to be the best fighter, to create a legacy. They have enough personal wealth. I doubt there’s any point taking on Usyk again because the result would be the same. The only way that landscape changes is if Usyk walks away.
My inspiration was Lennox Lewis, a champion who retired from boxing before it retired him. Usyk can do the same.
I’m not sure Daniel Dubois jumping into the ring even registered with him. He has other things more important in his life such as the political and motivational role he plays for his country. Although he has the daily discipline, boxing is not everything to him and it wouldn’t surprise me if he stepped away. He has nothing else to prove.
