Former MMA heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem weighs in on how size could be a determining factor in who wins, Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk.
We are only a few hours away from the most important heavyweight boxing fight since Lennox Lewis was crowned undisputed champion back in 2000: Tyson Fury taking on Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
One man who certainly knows a thing or two about competing at the highest level of combat sports, and the highest of weight classes is Alistair ‘The Demolition Man’ Overeem – who has offered his take on this weekend’s enormous heavyweight clash.
Former heavyweight king Alistair Overeem offers insight into Fury vs Usyk
Having stepped in the UFC octagon with the likes of Francis Ngannou, Stipe Miocic, and Brock Lesnar, it’s safe to say that ‘The Demolition Man’ has far more personal experience with fighting man-mountains than most of the former fighters flying out to Saudi Arabia this weekend.
Yet with much of the conversation surrounding Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk being about the size difference, Overeem has offered his take on how the height and weight advantage of ‘The Gypsy King’ could affect the fight itself:
“[How size impacts fights] depends on which opponent you have, right? If you have a smaller and more versatile opponent [like Usyk], you need to be able to move to match the speed, especially as it’s 12 rounds which is [more] a cardio thing.”
“I believe [Fury] needs or needed to lose weight because Usyk is going to be high pace, he’ll need the ability to ramp up to match the speed, so he had to lose weight.”
This comes in response to Usyk’s team branding Fury a “skinny belly” after the British heavyweight looked decidedly slimmer during the open workouts earlier in the week.
Fury’s trainer SugarHill Steward dismissed claims that his fighter was opting to ‘give up’ the size advantage: “It’s not even that he’s lighter, he’s just more fit. He hasn’t dropped a bunch of weight just to get down low; it’s just weight where he can be stronger and more mobile and agile.”
Overeem in turn noted that despite his vast experience facing fellow heavyweights, this fight remains particularly “difficult to gauge” as both athletes retain “a very high technical pedigree.”
“My rational side is predicting a little bit more [towards] Tyson Fury using his weight, his volume, height, reach…. [But] it all depends on if you can utilize your size and utilize your weight but then also how you defend against the size and defend against the weight.”
Whilst he believes that “Usyk has the mental and physical [attributes] to do that” and negate the height/weight disadvantage, the Dutch superstar did note that the size difference was slowly swaying him towards predicting a Fury victory:
“My rational side is leaning more towards Tyson, but my emotional side [to Usyk] – maybe because of the weight as the smaller man, I’ve seen so many amazing moves and techniques from Usyk, but I wish both gentlemen luck and may the best man win.”
Alistair Overeem is the former Strikeforce MMA heavyweight champion, Dream heavyweight champion, K-1 world grand prix champion, and former UFC heavyweight title challenger; who at one point in time, was considered to be the single most intimidating figure in all of combat sports.
“I just know one thing, as a fight fan and a boxing fan, that it will be a beautiful performance.”
Overeem says John Fury’s headbutt is ‘bad karma’ for son Tyson
Whilst Tyson Fury might be one-half of the headline attraction in Riyadh this weekend, he’s certainly not the only Fury family member who’s been in the headlines.
Earlier this week, John Fury went viral after he headbutted a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s team, only to open a cut on his own forehead as security intervened.
Not only did Alistair Overeem claim that the headbutt was “Very unfortunate and unnecessary” for the promotion of the fight, but he later noted that headline-grabbing outbursts like John’s can quickly come back to haunt a fight team:
“But [it’s] also bad karma I believe, these things don’t have a place in the beautiful sport of boxing or any sport.”
“It’s a bad energy thing, it’s bad luck – the way that I see it with my experience, you don’t want that stuff happening from your side of things.”
Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk goes down this weekend, live from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.