Tyson Fury goes back to the drawing board after being handed his first loss by Oleksandr Usyk and then using his contracted rematch clause to book the second fight.
Fury put his WBC belt on the line against Usyk’s IBF, WBA and WBO to crown the first undisputed champion since 1999. It was the Ukrainian technician who took it on the cards after scoring a significant knockdown in the ninth. He becomes only the second man to hold all belts at cruiserweight and then heavyweight.
Someone who may look to emulate in the future is current 200lbs champ Jai Opetaia. He spoke to Seconds out about the fight and what Fury can do in the rematch to change the result.
“I think he’s just gotta be more active. He’s gotta want to win and just go for it a bit more. You can let him steal the rounds like he was.
I don’t think [Fury] disrespected [Usyk’s power], but I wasn’t expecting [Usyk] to hurt him like the way he did. I was expecting it to be a full-on boxing match the whole time, a lot more punches to be thrown.”
Opetaia was providing southpaw sparring for Fury briefly before the initial fight date. When his undercard bought against orthodox Mairis Briedis, he left camp to focus on his own preparation. The card was then rescheduled due to a cut the Brit suffered during rounds in the gym.
With the December 21 date now in the diary, Opetaia said he would be more than happy to work with Fury again.
“Yeah, man, if they need me in there… Obviously I’m gonna have to work [for] who I’m fighting against if it’s on the same card. If I’m not fighting on the same card, I’m happy to go in there and help out. It’s always a good experience to be around other world class athletes.”
Turki Alalshikh has promised a ‘bigger and better’ undercard for the rematch, so Opetaia is a natural choice given his fan-friendly style.
