Tyson Fury Promises ‘Demolition’ of Oleksandr Usyk in Heavyweight Showdown

The winner of Saturday’s fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will be boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion this century.

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Tyson Fury believes he’s the best. 

Of this era?

“Of all time,” Fury says. 

Fury is speaking from a sofa inside his hotel room, the cool indoor air a reprieve from the scorching Saudi heat. His son, Prince John, reclines alongside him. Family, Fury says, is what’s important to him. Boxing is just business. “I’m here to get paid, get laid and get out of here,” Fury told me … and every outlet that’s asked him about it. When a fight is finished, Fury heads straight back to Morecambe, a seaside town on the English coast, to walk his dog, play with his kids and live what he calls a quiet life behind his high walls.

“I put myself as number one of all men,” says Fury. “Because I'm not interested in anybody else. I don't want to be rated against anybody else. All the stuff of legacies and going down in history is all very irrelevant to me. What happens in 60 years is none of my interest. What people say, think or care about is none of my interest.”

Fine. But Fury is a showman, the P.T. Barnum of boxing, and there is no bigger stage to perform than the ring inside Kingdom Arena on Saturday, where Fury will face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship. For all of boxing’s warts, heavyweights still drive intense interest and an undisputed champion—which the division has not had this century—is the greatest title of them all. 

A year ago, Fury seemed destined for it. He was undefeated, fresh off a knockout win over Derek Chisora, which followed a knockout win over Dillian Whyte, which followed back-to-back knockout wins over Deontay Wilder. He retired a couple of times in between but with Fury, retirements never stick. Last summer, Fury signed on to face Francis Ngannou, the former UFC champ. It was panned as a money grab for Fury against an opponent with no real chance of winning. 

Only it wasn’t. Fury, tipping the scales at a career-high weight, looked disinterested. And Ngannou, making his boxing debut, looked sharp. A left hook dropped Fury in the third round. A barrage of punches opened up cuts on his face. A late rally by Fury salvaged a split decision win. Though in every other way it felt like a loss. 

Inactivity, Fury says, was behind the Ngannou performance, which came nearly 11 months after his win over Chisora. “If I'm kept busy and I've got dates going forward, I can concentrate and stay in shape and look forward to events,” says Fury. “But when I’m out the ring for years upon end with no dates and nothing coming up, it’s quite boring and it’s not worth being involved in.”

Still, Fury’s performance raised questions. If, at 35, age had caught up to him. If years of hard living had drained him. If three physical fights with Wilder had taken something out of him. He dropped off pound-for-pound lists. Critics, many of whom had been circling since Fury’s decision to fight the long faded Chisora, came after him. 

Usyk, meanwhile, has just chugged along. He cleaned out the cruiserweight division in 2018, following it up with a dominant knockout win over Tony Bellew that same year. He is 5–0 at heavyweight, with two wins over Anthony Joshua and a stoppage victory over Daniel Dubois last year. At 37, Usyk is two years older than Fury. But in the ring he has looked considerably fresher. 

Being doubted isn’t new to Fury. Hell, it’s familiar territory. Few believed Fury could beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Years later, fewer thought Fury, who ballooned to more than 400 pounds during a three-year hiatus, could make it back. Many thought Fury, two fights into a comeback, was crazy for challenging Wilder. Each time, Fury has proved the skeptics wrong. 

On Saturday, he will attempt to do it again. Usyk’s team insists Fury will struggle against Usyk’s southpaw stance. They point out that Fury has never faced anyone with Usyk’s skill level. They believe the cut over Fury’s right eye, which forced a three-month postponement of this fight, will open up again. Once, oddsmakers would have made Fury a heavy favorite against Usyk. Now, it’s effectively a pick ’em fight. Fury admits he’s been impressed by Usyk. But he’s quick to add that Usyk has never faced anyone like him.   

“I just don't think he's fought the right opponent to beat him,” says Fury. “I want to use the jab on him. Be effective with the jab, uppercuts, right hands, left hooks, all of the punches. I don't buy into this stuff that there's only a certain few punches that you can land on the southpaw. I don't buy into that at all. I buy into the fact that you can land whatever punches you want on them if you set them up right. And I believe I can do that.”

Outside the ring the chess match between the two has already started. At Wednesday’s media workout, Usyk hit the pads from an orthodox stance. When it was his turn, Fury worked as a southpaw. After verbally bludgeoning Usyk at a press conference announcing the fight months earlier, Fury said little Thursday and refused to even look at Usyk during a staredown. Usyk, meanwhile, has lodged a complaint about the ring canvas, claiming the stitching created a bump that he could trip over. 

“Make no mistake,” says Fury, “I’m here to do a demolition job.”

As for his place among the elite heavyweights, that’s subjective. There has been some eye-rolling among the older generation that has parachuted into Saudi Arabia this week. Talk of eras, résumés, etc. Still, Fury has a win over Klitschko, then the unquestioned king of the division. He has two wins over Wilder. A win over Usyk—or two, with both fighters holding a rematch clause—would beef up Fury’s résumé considerably.   

“Everyone will have an opinion,” says Fury. 

Indeed, an opinion that is likely to change, one way or another, on Saturday.