Tyson Fury has vowed to cut down on the showboating in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk but sees no reason to adjust his gameplan.
The heavyweight rivals meet for the second time in Riyadh on Saturday with Fury desperate to avenge May’s split decision defeat that saw Usyk crowned the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.
Fury dominated the middle rounds but some believe he paid the price for his frequent grandstanding when he was on top.
The ‘Gypsy King’ insists his swagger was a result of finding the fight too easy but he is now ready to heed the advice of promoter Frank Warren’ and “get down to business”.
“I don’t believe the showboating cost me the fight but I need to be more focused this time and not do as much,” Fury sad.
“One of the commentators picked up on it and said, ‘has anybody ever seen Tyson Fury clown this much, even against lower level opposition?’.
“That’s how easy it was for me in there and you can get complacent because of that.”
Fury is still convinced he won a classic first fight that was full of momentum swings and claims he will therefore adopt the same tactics.
He looked close to stopping Usyk in the sixth round but the Ukrainian showed his resilience to turn the contest on its head, initially by landing a hard shot on Fury’s nose in the eighth and then by overwhelming him in the ninth.
“I’m just going to use my boxing, like I did last time. I’m not going to do anything drastic, like a total change of gameplan because it’s not needed,” Fury said.
“If it was five, six or seven rounds the opposite way and it was a landslide, then fine. Then I’d have to change something drastically.
The moment Oleksandr Usyk DROPPED Tyson Fury 😳#FuryUsyk pic.twitter.com/EPeaTUtJoK
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) May 19, 2024
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“But because it was a very close fight, I don’t really need to change much. I just need to be a little bit more focused and that’s it really.
“Why would I change something when I had control of the fight for maybe 80 per cent of it?
“I’m landing on him at will, head and body, lead right uppercuts, left hooks, right hooks to the body. Doubles at times. I don’t feel I need to change anything.
“I don’t think Usyk will change either because his key to victory has to be coming forward. He ain’t going to outbox me on the back foot. It’s not possible. So he has to come forward and make a fight of it.”
Another feature of the first fight was the chaos in Fury’s corner in between later rounds with trainer SugarHill Steward, second Andy Lee and dad John each giving different advice.
“There was no confusion at all. You could have Angelo Dundee, Ray Arcel, Emanuel Steward, everyone in that corner – it doesn’t mean anything,” Fury said.
“Whoever’s in the corner (inaudible) don’t mean s***. I’m going to do what I’m going to do.”
