Exactly. Poor old Zhang doesn’t hit the marketing spot because, through no fault of his own, his English is shite. It’s all about the Benjamins. As per… And as an aside, I’d love to see Eddie Hearns face as Ngannou flattens AJ. And another AJ tizzy would be nice to see as well
I think Fury's plan is to be undisputed WC and retire without any more fights. Which makes me think he will be there with his AAA+ game. Usyk will be hard to beat, but Fury is too big for Usyk.
Just read this wrt Fury & Usyk - "The pair have signed a two fight deal, meaning the winner will probably be stripped of the IBF belt after the bout, as they will be unable to defend it against mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic"
Sounds like another women's thrilla with conflicting opinions on the result: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/68041230
Just as Mystic Zhed predicted! "I also think Fury will be too much for Usyk, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that the fight won’t go ahead. I reckon Fury is losing interest in boxing (again), he won’t put in the work to get into the sort of shape he will need to be in in order to deal with someone of Usyk’s quality and he’s also worried about his legacy if Usyk beats him. Therefore, I predict he will suffer a rib or hand injury sometime around the beginning of December….." My timing was off but only because at the time, IIRC, late December/early Jan was being mooted as the date of the fight. Post #192
Bah, bollocks!! I must say, I thought Fury was 100% up for it… I was wrong and the nay sayers were right… gutted… drat!! Let the Fury slag fest begin.. . Can’t defend…
Ha! - when I posted I thought shall I mention this is exactly what Zhed predicted & steal his thunder or shall I let him have his moment in the sun... Tbf it's not some 'hidden' ailment like ooo me big toe hurts or summat but is a visually nasty looking cut & we'll leave it to debate how it was re-opened. But didn't he have a nasty cut in the exact same position in one of his previous fights with a Swedish(?) boxer a couple of years back.
I think it was Otto Walin. But I simply can’t believe a pro boxer would make such a schoolboy error in the build up to such a massive fight. Or any fight come to think of it. He’s clearly not right. Maybe he’s having another episode with his mental health…
Definitely right about Fury, fair play! But what made you think he’d duck out? It’s blind sided me… Definitely wrong about brexit. Brexit’s nearly as cool as me
Fury did have head gear on. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25690365/tyson-fury-elbow-footage-injury-usyk/
If the fight does ever go ahead then Usyk now knows what to concentrate on and being a southpaw may well be a little easier for him. In the meantime here's a long article on muscle v fat in boxers. https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...count-for-much?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
It was a hunch brought about by Fury’s apparent lack of seriousness. It felt like he’d semi-checked out of the fight game and was now more into the publicity and playing the fool than the actual bloody business of beating another man into unconsciousness (and vice versa). He’d also let himself go physically and you could see it in the Ngannou fight where not only did he have a huge sloppy spare tyre, he was gassing out and didn’t seem to have the physical strength to dominate the clinches. Just the opposite in fact. He could no longer avoid Usyk, who he’d been taunting for years, but I didn’t think he had the reserves of love for the game and the iron discipline he would need in order to recover the fitness, sharpness and strength required to deal with Usyk’s skill and mobility. I also had a feeling he might be hitting the powder or the bottle, or both. On the other hand, as he never tires of telling people, he’s a proud fighting man and retiring without facing Usyk would seriously tarnish his reputation. I strongly suspected that he’d either lie to himself that he could still get up at 5am to run 10k and then spend all day alternating between circuit training and throwing up into a dustbin but would find he no longer had that level of devotion and dedication in him, so he’d have to fake or self-inflict an injury, or else maybe he knew from the get go that he no longer has what it takes and intended to duck the fight all along. My money is on the former, and so now it’s a 3 way toss up between this cut being a convenient career-ender or he’ll have a word with himself, they’ll reschedule the fight and he’ll put the work in this time, or him and his team will make a show of remaking the fight but there’ll be so much contractual wrangling that it never happens.
Wise and thoughtful words as ever Mr Zhed... and as much as I agree with your opinion that he's maybe lost his love and seriousness for the game I (personally) find it hard to accept that is the case. Although taking on the Ngannou piss take fight should have told me as much. It seems I, and others, have more faith in him than he does himself... which raises the spectre of mental issues he has previously suffered from and perhaps still suffering with. I'm now thinking the trilogy with Wilder was a Damascene moment for both men.
Bah... Fury thought -like the entire world- that beating Ngannou was just a quick and easy way to relieve Saudis of millions more $$$'s. Definitely a mistake but not the end of the world. A two time WC who has never lost in 35 fights, who is one of our own, yet you blokes are not standing up for him? Poor show chaps, jolly poor show, what...
