‘Very difficult to pick against him’ — Eddie Hearn gives bold Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch prediction
Eddie Hearn has told talkSPORT that he’s now picked his winner for Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2. Fury fell to the first defeat of his professional career against Usyk in May but gets the opportunity to exact revenge in just over a week. Fury and Usyk will meet again just before ChristmasIan Walton/Matchroom ‘The Gypsy King’, 36, will share the ring once again with the Ukrainian on December 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Eddie Hearn has worked with a who’s who of boxing greats including Usyk himself, Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Katie Taylor. He was the man who signed Anthony Joshua and guided him to two reigns as a unified champion. Now, the 45-year-old British sports promoter and Chairman of Matchroom Sport has stated his predictions for the gigantic heavyweight clash he views as a ‘thriller’ on December 21. “I think it’s difficult for anybody to pick Tyson Fury to win the fight with a level head. I think it’s going to be an incredibly close fight. I think the last one was as well,” Hearn said on talkSPORT’s Jim White & Simon Jordan on Thursday. “But I just think with what we saw from Usyk in the first fight, with his ability to digest information – I think it’s very difficult to pick against him. “I want Fury to win, I think he’s capable of winning. I think he’s going to have to do something extraordinary, which we’ve seen him do before. “But I think with a level head, it’s very difficult to not pick Oleksandr Usyk in this fight. But I’m hoping that the big man can do something special. “Can he do it at this stage of his career? Is he getting a little bit war-torn? I think both of them probably are. I thought the first fight would be a stinker. It was unbelievable. “And I think we’ll get another brilliant fight, I really do. I can only see it being a thriller.” Hearn believed the first bout wouldn’t be a good fight, but he has since admitted he was wrongGetty Fury missed the chance to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when he lost in his historic meeting with Usyk in May. Usyk, 37, dropped Fury in the ninth round en route to victory in the pair’s bid to unite all four belts. And it was ‘The Cat’ who went on to claim a split-decision win with scorecards of 115-112, 114-113 in his favour, while the third judge gave it 114-113 to Fury. The rematch will not be for the undisputed titles as Usyk vacated his IBF belt. “I think Usyk really deserves so much more credit for what he did in that first fight,” Hearn added. “He walked down, backed up and beat up at times a guy who was approaching 20 stone, 6ft 8ins. Usyk dropped Fury in the ninth round in their first fightGetty “Usyk is a very small heavyweight. I didn’t think he was capable of doing that. The problem with Tyson Fury is when you say – what do you do differently in this fight? “Okay, maybe you need to be more aggressive. When AJ lost to Usyk, the general consensus was, ‘You weren’t aggressive enough, you just got to stick it on him, you’re the bigger man.’ All this absolute rubbish. “That’s actually going to play into the hands so much more of Oleksandr Usyk. He’s a classic counter-puncher. He wants you to be aggressive, he wants you to fall in, he wants you to take chances, he wants you to make mistakes. “But then Fury can’t just box defensively like he did at times in the first fight. He has to try and do something. He’s got to try and switch something up. “The problem is Usyk adapts to all styles, he adapts to all situations. And he’s very, very difficult to beat in that respect. “So what is he going to do? I have no idea. I don’t know what the answer is, but he’s going to have to find one.” Fury said in November that he can be ‘more focused’ with ‘less clowning’ in order to beat Usyk in the pair’s rematch. He also responded to criticism about his corner’s advice during the first fight with Usyk, admitting that ‘people can have their opinions’ but quite frankly ‘they’re not in there doing the fighting.’ The winner of the highly anticipated clash could face Daniel Dubois next after he retained the IBF title in style by knocking out Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September.
Eddie Hearn has told talkSPORT that he’s now picked his winner for Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2.
Fury fell to the first defeat of his professional career against Usyk in May but gets the opportunity to exact revenge in just over a week.
‘The Gypsy King’, 36, will share the ring once again with the Ukrainian on December 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Eddie Hearn has worked with a who’s who of boxing greats including Usyk himself, Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Katie Taylor.
He was the man who signed Anthony Joshua and guided him to two reigns as a unified champion.
Now, the 45-year-old British sports promoter and Chairman of Matchroom Sport has stated his predictions for the gigantic heavyweight clash he views as a ‘thriller’ on December 21.
“I think it’s difficult for anybody to pick Tyson Fury to win the fight with a level head. I think it’s going to be an incredibly close fight. I think the last one was as well,” Hearn said on talkSPORT’s Jim White & Simon Jordan on Thursday.
“But I just think with what we saw from Usyk in the first fight, with his ability to digest information – I think it’s very difficult to pick against him.
“I want Fury to win, I think he’s capable of winning. I think he’s going to have to do something extraordinary, which we’ve seen him do before.
“But I think with a level head, it’s very difficult to not pick Oleksandr Usyk in this fight. But I’m hoping that the big man can do something special.
“Can he do it at this stage of his career? Is he getting a little bit war-torn? I think both of them probably are. I thought the first fight would be a stinker. It was unbelievable.
“And I think we’ll get another brilliant fight, I really do. I can only see it being a thriller.”
Fury missed the chance to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when he lost in his historic meeting with Usyk in May.
Usyk, 37, dropped Fury in the ninth round en route to victory in the pair’s bid to unite all four belts.
And it was ‘The Cat’ who went on to claim a split-decision win with scorecards of 115-112, 114-113 in his favour, while the third judge gave it 114-113 to Fury.
The rematch will not be for the undisputed titles as Usyk vacated his IBF belt.
“I think Usyk really deserves so much more credit for what he did in that first fight,” Hearn added.
“He walked down, backed up and beat up at times a guy who was approaching 20 stone, 6ft 8ins.
“Usyk is a very small heavyweight. I didn’t think he was capable of doing that. The problem with Tyson Fury is when you say – what do you do differently in this fight?
“Okay, maybe you need to be more aggressive. When AJ lost to Usyk, the general consensus was, ‘You weren’t aggressive enough, you just got to stick it on him, you’re the bigger man.’ All this absolute rubbish.
“That’s actually going to play into the hands so much more of Oleksandr Usyk. He’s a classic counter-puncher. He wants you to be aggressive, he wants you to fall in, he wants you to take chances, he wants you to make mistakes.
“But then Fury can’t just box defensively like he did at times in the first fight. He has to try and do something. He’s got to try and switch something up.
“The problem is Usyk adapts to all styles, he adapts to all situations. And he’s very, very difficult to beat in that respect.
“So what is he going to do? I have no idea. I don’t know what the answer is, but he’s going to have to find one.”
Fury said in November that he can be ‘more focused’ with ‘less clowning’ in order to beat Usyk in the pair’s rematch.
He also responded to criticism about his corner’s advice during the first fight with Usyk, admitting that ‘people can have their opinions’ but quite frankly ‘they’re not in there doing the fighting.’
The winner of the highly anticipated clash could face Daniel Dubois next after he retained the IBF title in style by knocking out Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September.
