Tyson Fury’s former sparring partner David Adeleye reckons one key switch can help him avenge his loss to Oleksandr Usyk in Saturday’s grudge rematch.
The Gypsy King suffered a split-decision loss – the first of his professional career when the pair last met in Saudi Arabia back in May.
Fury started the fight well and was in control at the halfway stage but the pendulum swung in the ninth round when the Brit was staggered by a sensational flurry of punches by Usyk.
The Ukrainian dominated the latter rounds to claim a razor-thin decision victory and become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Fury has faced calls to make sweeping changes from the first fight, including removing his father John Fury from the corner, but Adeleye thinks the Brit should resist the urge to tinker too much with his game plan.
‘Nothing surprised me about the first result or the fact that he went straight back in,’ Adeleye, who helped Fury prepare for his rematch with Deontay Wilder, told Metro.
‘When you’re at the top of the tree, it’s about those one per cent differences. The first fight was swaying Tyson’s favour until he got rocked and the tide started to change.
‘They are both elite-level fighters so it was always going to swing one way and the other.
‘But if you look at the scorecards and rewatch the first fight it relly could have gone either way so he shouldn’t feel the need to change much.’
Fury came in at his lightest in over four years for the first fight with Usyk, although he still maintained a huge weight advantage over the Ukrainian.
Looking ahead to the rematch, Adeleye reckons that Fury’s best path to victory in the rematch is to better use those physical advantages to try and slow down Usyk in the latter rounds.
Fury employed a similar tactic in his rematch with Wilder in February 2020, leaning on the lighter and more explosive American before eventually claiming a spectacular TKO victory in the seventh round.
‘I don’t know what he thinks went wrong or went right but from the outside, it just looks like he wasn’t imposing himself on Usyk as much as he should have,’ Adeleye added.
‘I know Usyk doesn’t allow many fighters to be that imposing figure in the ring but if anyone can do it, Fury can.
‘If he can use that size a bit more, he can hopefully dictate the pace of the fight on his terms. That will be crucial in swinging the rematch his way.’
Regardless of who comes out on top, Adeleye can only see the fight ending one way.
‘It won’t go to the judges this time round,’ he said. ‘Either fighter could win but there will be a stoppage.’
This weekend’s heavyweight world title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is available to purchase on DAZN
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