Though many were afraid of a tepid affair, Fury vs. Usyk overdelivered on expectations for such a historic night in boxing. The two consummate heavyweight boxers in the world both looked incredible and produced an entertaining, technical fight. Oleksandr Usyk’s performance was one for the ages. The former best cruiserweight in the world taking on the best heavyweight, and winning a hard-fought, clean decision that he was almost able to finish in the 9th round. Its a shame Usyk did not have the mainstream appeal of Fury before the fight, but I hope he does now.
Given Fury’s last few performances against Chisora and Ngannou, I was not sure how the Gypsy King would fare against a style he has admitted to struggling against. Though he cleanly lost, my fears were unfounded. Fury struggled early but came on strong in the middle rounds when he was able to force the action.
The night was won by Usyk though, so lets dig into what he did so well.
Disclaimer: The video clips included in this article are not owned by the author. They are included for educational purposes only to illustrate key moments in the fighter’s career and demonstrate aspects of mixed martial arts techniques and strategies. All rights to the video content belong to their respective owners.
Usyk The Cat
Oleksandr Usyk made his pressure felt early. He opted to start every round on the front foot, establishing control of the center with his jab and feints to push Fury back towards the corner (V1). It was imperative that Usyk took control immediately. Being the smaller man, dictating the action on his terms and forcing Fury to react to his offense was ever in his favor. This had the added benefit of compounding every round. Usyk is a pressure fighter who is able to keep a pace most heavyweights could only dream of. The more he could execute his offense and keep Fury on the back foot, the more it would pay off as the fight progressed.
V1: Usyk opened every round on the front foot. He storms to the center of the ring and marches Fury down with punches to the body to push him towards the roped, and side-steps to cut off his exits from the corner.
Usyk focused on sapping Fury’s energy with not only his pace, but his shot selection. The majority of Usyk’s offense throughout the fight was directed towards Fury’s large mid-section (V2). I and many other analysts constantly talk about the importance of attritive strikes, because they work. Though Fury is no slouch in terms of cardio, he’s still a gigantic heavyweight who hasn’t faced a fighter like Usyk.
V2: The majority of Usyk’s offense was directed towards the body. As Fury changed level for a glancing jab to Usyk’s body, the Ukrainian stepped outside of Fury’s lead foot and feinted the jab to stand him back up. Fury tried to retreat with a long frame of his own but Usyk deftly slips outside to land a left straight to the body.
The consistency of Usyk’s offense to the body kept him up on the scorecards, drained Fury’s energy, and had the added benefit of favoring Usyk’s reach disadvantage (V3). Rather than try and swing for Fury’s (very mobile) head, he would feint to the head and commit to the body. Fury’s large body was an easy and more stationary target that Usyk simply needed to punch straight towards in order to land.
V3: The benefit to Usyk’s committed body attack is that he simply needs to punch straight in order to land on Fury’s largest target. A small head on a big body, Usyk did not have to try and follow Fury’s head movement and punch up, decreasing his range. Usyk stalked Fury and shot his punches right under his outstretched hand.
How was he able to land to the body so effectively though? Usyk’s craft as a southpaw is the answer, as he is always obtaining outside foot position. Visible in V1-3, Usyk is constantly stepping on the outside of Fury’s lead foot with his own to land punches. The benefit of stepping outside the lead foot in the open stance is that it puts you in the best position to land while giving your opponent none. Usyk would often dip outside of Fury’s lead hand while stepping outside, and Fury would need to either punch across himself or turn to face Usyk to land punches. Usyk is already below any guard of Fury and his rear hand is lined up perfectly with the body. Usyk’s success with straights to the body was wrought from his insistence on punching when in great position. Even in times we wasn’t stepping out, getting outside of Fury’s closed side made landing punches all the easier (V4).
V4: Usyk employs what looks like amateur boxing, landing as many punches as he can no matter how significant. Usyk lands his rear straight while dipping outside of Fury’s jab. Fury sticks his jab out as a frame, and Usyk lands two more small shots to the body under the frame.
Usyk’s body work was integral towards his insistence on pressure. The primary reaction when getting hit straight to the body is to move backwards. With such a large body, it would take Fury a significant amount of time to move out of the way laterally, so he moved back instead. The other pressure tool in Usyk’s kit was his constant feinting (V5). Usyk’s offense was made possible by his positioning, but even his positioning was predicated by the jab. Usyk’s unique way of feinting his jab by looping his hand and bouncing his stance had the dual benefit of keeping Fury’s lead in space for the hand-fight and keeping him aware of the level changes for punches to the body (V6).
V5: Usyk’s bouncing stance and feints were integral to Usyk’s pressure when he wasn’t attacking. Usyk would dip to the outside proactively in anticipation of Fury’s jab, and use his own lead hand to keep Fury on the back foot. One of his more prominent tendencies is that he will throw a small jab feint, and follow up with an exaggerated jab feint. He switches between shooting it low and high, and then circling it around Fury’s own lead hand. Usyk’s threat of the jab is always there.
With Usyk constantly feinting and moving forward, Fury was forced on the back foot throughout the early rounds of the fight and continued to find himself in the corner. Though he made a show of it when he was there, he was no doubt frustrated by being put in a disadvantageous position so consistently. Usyk’s combination of the jab, body work, and feinting lay the ground work for his game. This offensive whirlwind was a defense all its own, preventing Fury from working in combination.
V6: Usyk’s bouncing stance also allowed him to feint level changes and keep Fury aware of the body attack. Usyk had already established his jab and rear hitting to the body, so Fury was forced to address Usyk’s feints by moving back and to the right.
Once Usyk established a threat to the body he was able to land punches more reliably on Fury’s head. Usyk had set the expectation to move backwards rather than rely on head movement. Evasive action did nothing to address Usyk’s blows to the body. Now when Usyk began his sequences with the jab, Fury was conditioned to move backwards and attempt to counter, but Usyk surprised him by landing cleanly to the head (V7).
V7: Usyk throws the double jab while circling out towards his right. Though Fury lands a rear hand over the double jab, Usyk has put himself in a better position to land his own rear hand over Fury’s.
Usyk always established himself as the pressure fighter early so he can set expectations and exploit them later. His feinting and soft jabs made Fury think he could consistently hand-fight to stifle the lead hand (V8), and even utilized tempo-changing punches to surprise Fury within an exchange (V10). Usyk is known as such a crafty and nuanced fighter because he is able to make reads on both a strategic and tactical level. Strategically, he knew he had to pressure Fury with body work and feints to land more damaging shots later, and make Fury less effective as the rounds drew on. Tactically, he could see when Fury was beginning to make an adjustment, and exploit him with something completely different (V9). This moment was especially astute because of Fury’s susceptibility to overhands from shorter, faster men (see Fury vs. Cunningham). The overhand was not a viable strike throughout the majority of the match because of the open-stance matchup, but the moment Fury switched stance Usyk threw a massive overhand to rattle him. This neutered future attempts by Fury to work from southpaw.
V8: Usyk constantly lulled Fury into a lazy hand fight, feinting his jab that Fury was forced to address it. With Fury’s jab occupying open space, Usyk could dart inside of it (while obtaining outside foot position) to land a stinging jab and rear straight behind it.
V9: Even in moments Fury switched stances Usyk was more than ready to address it. Usyk grabbed Fury’s rear hand and pulled it down, as if to hook. Fury is expecting the hook and hooks with Usyk, but Usyk is already sliding away from Fury’s strike to land a huge overhand left on Fury.
V10: Tempo changing punches. Usyk starts the sequence with a soft jab to the guard and straight to the body. This keeps Fury’s high guard up as he is trapped against the ropes. Usyk can now open up against a Fury fully committed to defense. Usyk puts more heat on a right hook and left straight that gets a much larger reaction, and ends the combination with a soft jab. Usyk follows up with alternating soft and hard shots between his hands to continue his offensive assault.
Till now we’ve focused on Usyk’s pressure and how often Fury was on the back foot. This is the for the unified heavyweight championship of the world though, Fury isn’t simply letting Usyk pressure him right?
Right
The problem is that Usyk never likes to let a shot go unpunished (V11). Any moment of success Fury had was met with a swift retaliation by Usyk.
V11: Fury feints his rear hand and steps through on a right straight. Usyk immediately follows up on a hands-down Fury with a softer right hook to measure the distance, and a clattering overhand left. Though the lead-hand fight occupied the space to land most of the time, his over-committed rear straight left his open side wide open for the overhand.
With his pressure firmly established Usyk got to work in the corner. The same concepts that applied in open space apply here, except Fury no longer has the option of moving backwards so body shots are even more effective (V12). Though Fury keeps a twitchy right hand and lead in open-space, it is in response to Usyk’s own jab and feints. Once Usyk has a read on Fury’s lead hand, he slips from it to land on Fury’s body.
V12: Once Usyk was able to force Fury into the corner, he doubled down on his body work. Fury is known for his flashy head movement when backed into the corner of the ring, so Usyk continued to jab feint and level change to force Fury’s framing jab. Once Fury kept his hand out, Usyk was easily able to punch under the frame and rip Fury’s body.
Usyk started the fight with a conservative pressure that he built upon throughout the rounds. Where he was content to land 1-2 punch combinations earlier, he extended his combinations as he understood Fury’s defensive tendencies (V13). Fury would constantly try and jab and circle out of the corner but would be met with a surging Usyk. He was still along the ropes lacking a backwards retreat, and Usyk’s intercepting shots would catch him clean (V14). Any attempts to jab and frame by the trapped Fury were met with a stalwart defense and counter shots (V13-15).
V13: As the fight progressed Usyk added to his combinations. Usyk threw a jab and rear straight under Fury’s frame. Usyk followed up by slipping outside of Fury’s framing hand and landing some looping overhand lefts to catch him escaping along the ropes.
V14: Usyk was able to consistently bring Fury to the corner. He would often try and jab and escape out the side, but Usyk was prepared for this eventuality. Fury put up a lazy Philly Shell to turn side-on to Usyk as he hooked off the jab, and was met with a rear straight as Usyk stepped in on a positive angle.
V15: Usyk’s head movement opens up more opportunities to punish Fury’s body while in the ropes. He slips outside of the frame to land his straight to the body, and slips inside to land a jab. Usyk has now perfectly set himself up to throw a rear hook, forcing Fury into the corner and putting him back in his stance to face Fury.
Usyk easily took control of the early rounds by seizing the initiative and pressuring Fury with his multi-faceted approach. Though he was able to make some immediate reads on Fury’s defensive habits, this did not leave the big Gypsy King out of the fight.
Defensive Fury
Fury’s first line of defense was his frames. His frame was perfectly suited to put a hand on Usyk’s head whenever he felt the pressure was too great. Unfortunately for him, these frames were easily out-maneuvered when Usyk simply slipped and ripped to the body (V19-20). With Usyk in range to hit, Fury now relied upon the flashier aspect of his defense: head movement (V16). Though this was made less effective due to Usyk’s fixation on the torso, he added a lower guard to actively defend the body shots and proactively defend the head (V17). Fury’s best use of head movement was when he was trapped along the ropes. He could use them as a springboard for more momentum (V17) and was able to avoid Usyk’s most committed shots and circle off (V18).
V16: Fury’s head movement has always been a staple of his game. Usyk ends the round with a combination to push Fury back against the ropes. Though Fury had consistently been meeting the ropes he bounced off of them to throw himself into his dips and slips. Usyk was able to read some of his last movement and catch him, but Fury simply grabbed the clinch to stifle Usyk’s pressure and turn him back on the ropes.
V17: Given his height, Fury was well aware of Usyk’s insistence to bash the body at every opportunity. though Fury is trapped in the corner, he leans away from Usyk’s alternating hand combinations to make them less impactful and keeps a low guard on his body. An evasive head and defended mid section.
V18: Ultimately, Fury’s head movement was a means to get him off the ropes. Fury started to defend Usyk’s offense by trying to stifle his hands, and to lean away from Usyk’s punches as he closed the distance. Fury was able to dip under Usyk’s lead hook and circle off the ropes, posturing as he is apt to do.
V19: Fury’s first line of defense (his long, framing arms) was easily countered by Usyk slipping to one side of Fury’s hand and landing crisp straights to the body. Usyk even touches Fury’s frame as if to start throwing high to keep Fury’s hand out, and again punches Fury straight under his arm.
V20: Fury likely overestimated his own reach advantage. Even though he would be touching Usyk’s head, Usyk did not stop moving forward. He was easily able to slip outside of Fury’s lead to land lefts, and inside to land his right hand, all while stepping forward and changing levels to accentuate his own reach and make up for the disparity between their frames.
Leaning away from punches at the waist and retreating might have saved Fury in some situations earlier in the fight. Usyk is a master of adaptations however and simply extended his combinations to catch Fury leaning away (V21) and bring him to the ropes. As a last ditch defensive effort Fury would occasionally put up the traditional high guard which can be easily punched around (V22). Usyk also used a high guard but he paired it with his head movement and counters. Fury was one or the other with his defense. He either had his frames, was moving his head, or put up the high guard. He did not marry these techniques together to create a more cogent defensive game. He brought a few tricks that could be easily exploited, and the only variety or consistency to his defensive efforts were how he cycled between them.
V21: Fury’s leaning wrought him some defensive success early, but it is not a reliable strategy. Fury moves backwards from Usyk’s offense and leans away from his punches. However, Usyk simply follows Fury as he moves backwards and is able to catch him with two shifting left straights. Fury had switched stances by moving backwards, and Usyk simply retains the open-stance matchup by shifting through his lefts. Once Fury is backed against the ropes, he continues to lean against them in hopes he can continue to avoid Usyk’s offense. Usyk throws a quick right hook while shifting back to southpaw just around Fury’s guard before they clinch up.
V22: When Tyson did opt to use his high guard, he did so without as much head movement. Though the high guard has more protection than no guard, it is just as exploitable when you are a still target. Usyk coerces Fury to shell up with the jab, and easily throws hooks to the body around the elbows, straights through the center, and hooks to the ear around the gloves.
Fury’s defensive acumen left quite a bit to be desired against Usyk, but it was because he had moments of success that he worked his way back into the fight throughout the middle rounds.
Furious Offense
Once Fury got on the front foot his moments of success increased dramatically. Fury was waiting and looking for counter punches throughout the early rounds of the fight. This gave Usyk the initiative to work his layered pressure game on Fury rather than allowing him to find opportunities to counter. Fury realized this by the middle rounds and decided to press the action himself (V23). Fury maintained an active lead hand like his opponent and followed up with looping straights and uppercuts to Usyk’s body (V24). The disparity of height and reach in Fury’s favor made these long “upwards-moving” punches perfect against Usyk (V28). Fury’s own lead hand made Usyk react and he could capitalize on a “perceived” weakness of Usyk’s in body shots (everyone is weak to them). Fury consistently snuck them around Usyk’s high guard that he coerced with his lead hand (V25).
V23: Fury’s striking landed as a result of mixing in upwards moving punches with his jabs and feints. Fury doubles jabs and throws a long right hook, likely meant for the body, that grazes Usyk’s guard. Fury waits a moment for Usyk to step back in with the jab, slips, and comes over the top with a right hook. As Usyk stands up from avoiding the right hook, Fury lands a beautiful left hook to Usyk’s exposed body.
V24: Fury keeps a twitchy left hand to keep Usyk aware of the jab. Fury sticks his lead hand out as a jab feint, that Usyk attempts to parry with his rear hand. Fury throws a looping straight right under Usyk’s raised rear hand to guard, stands up, and executes some twitchy shoulder feints to get Usyk back on the back foot.
V25: Fury utilized the jab as a means to keep Usyk’s guard high. It was his most prevalent defense throughout the fight, and a light jab will reinforce Usyk’s need to block oncoming punches with his gloves. Once the guard goes up, Fury sneaks in a looping straight to Usyk’s body.
Fury was able to use this momentum to adopt an active counter-punching game. Fury was still kept on the back foot but utilized more step-in and shoulder feints to convince Usyk to come in with offense that he could counter with the uppercut (V26). Fury’s damaging moments made the Ukrainian more hesitant. He was ont eh front foot but his offensive output dropped considerably. Less threats from Usyk meant that his feints and actual offense were much easier to distinguish. A clear-eyed Fury found his opportunities to counter in Usyk’s less committed attacks (V27).
V26: Fury feints with his head twice as if to come in, coercing Usyk (who favors pressuring) to come in with a 1-2. Given Usyk must extend himself in order to land his rear hand near Fury’s head, his head tends to move forward of his hips. Fury backs away from Usyk’s rear hand along the ropes and takes advantage of this with a strong rear uppercut to Usyk’s chest.
V27: Fury began realizing that a number of Usyk’s jabs were not meant to land, simply back him up and allow Usyk to come into range. Fury ignores Usyk’s double jab and throws a flush uppercut just as Usyk is looking to circle out and continue his combination.
V28: Fury’s “upwards” punches were a great tool to exploit Usyk’s use of the high guard, aided by his incredibly long limbs. Fury squared his stance to throw an uppercut and follows up with a long body shot that sneaks around the guard of Usyk. He ends the sequence by feinting an uppercut that puts his opponent on the back foot.
Fury’s uppercuts and body shots had the ancillary benefit of giving him a successful clinch entry (V29). Usyk was incredibly difficult to clinch and these punches were significant enough to force Usyk to remain totally defensive. In this state, Usyk was much easier to grab and give Fury a slight reprieve in one of his favorite positions. Usyk’s overzealous attempts to land on Fury in these frustrating middle rounds also gave him the perfect opening to grab and wear on the smaller man (V30).
V29: Fury’s use of the uppercut also allowed him to have minimal success with one of his favorite tools: The clinch. Fury shifts here with his uppercut on an advancing Usyk. The uppercut wrought him success so Usyk was forced to be defensive. With Usyk’s guard up, Fury can easily grab the clinch and turn off the ropes.
V30: Fury was also found the clinch from his defense on occasion. Fury dips outside of Usyk’s rear hook and lands a glancing hook to Usyk’s body. Fury lets his punch slide up Usyk’s back and grabs on to find the clinch.
Fury’s success through these middle rounds was significant but short-lived. Usyk was undeterred by Fury’s attacks and was able to adjust to the surging Englishman. His insistence on pressure, defensive savvy, and punishing Fury’s favorite positions all roused him to victory.
Usyk’s Adaptations
Tyson Fury’s defense was segmented into parts. Usyk adopted an integrated defense of head movement, positioning, and a high guard that was able to avoid and lessen the impact of shots while putting Usyk in favorable positions to counter (V31-32). By the end of the fight, Usyk was aware of Fury’s uppercuts attempts to counter his pressure and was able to return with counters of his own (V33-34).
V31: Usyk primarily utilized an active high guard to defend punches. Usyk keeps his gloves on his ears and arms at his sides, crunching down to block when he expects a body shot and darting out of range when he finds too much offense is coming his way. He often pairs this with slips in order to evade and have punches slide off of his gloves, rather than direct punches to the glove that still get shoved into his face. Just a minimal amount of head movement can make the high guard that much more effective.
V32: Usyk’s head movement is traditional and effective. He sees Fury’s quick jab to dip away from the oncoming right, and when he feels Fury’s posted lead on his head, dips out and away from the oncoming right hook.
V33: Usyk throws a rear hook that Fury dips outside of. Usyk quickly converts this missed punch into a frame on Fury’s head. Fury’s attempts at regaining posture are slightly stalled, so he throws a fade away lead hook that prevents Fury’s oncoming uppercut from finding the mark.
V34: Usyk dips outside of Fury’s rear uppercut and comes up with a hook to Fury’s body. This backs Fury into the corner where Usyk can step outside of the lead foot (not shown) and land his rear straight, following up with uppercuts that stand Fury up after slipping Usyk’s hooks. Though Fury is able to circle off the cage, he was worse for wear after the exchange.
Fury had found a few opening for his clinch but it was largely neutered by Usyk’s use of bicep ties (V35). Fury loves using the clinch to wear out his opponents and did so to great effect agains the similarly heavy Deontay Wilder. Usyk was ready for this eventuality, and his grappling appeared to be on point. He even took a few notes out of Francis Ngannou’s fight with Fury to escape the clinch (V36).
If you want to read more about that fight:
V35: Fury grabs the clinch after an attack by Usyk. Though Fury got the underhook on the near side, Usyk was able to keep a strong bicep tie on the far side that prevented Fury from putting his weight on him. Usyk is able to retract his lazy overhook into another bicep tie and push Fury off.
V36: Usyk’s bicep ties prevented Fury’s clinch and allowed him to land some transitional offense. Fury comes in for the clinch but Usyk’s bicep ties push him off and allow Usyk to land a soft hook. Usyk then ducks under Fury’s clinch attempt (a la Ngannou) and almost lands a small punch before the ref steps in.
All of Usyk’s adaptations and pressure tactics culminated in what was almost a finish in the 9th round. Not much else to say but a lovely swarming effort by Usyk, and one the ref should not have stepped in for.
V37: Such a lovely (almost) finish.
I am thankful that I decided to watch a number of Usyk’s fights at cruiserweight before this one. The level of talent he has as a boxer is remarkable, and to be able to essentially finish Tyson Fury in what appeared to be top form is nothing short of astounding. I implore you to watch the careers of both men as they are a gift to combat sports. If you are more of an MMA fan, do not sleep on what boxing has been providing. There is simply too much to enjoy and too much to learn to avoid it. The fight was sensational.
Let me know what you were able to learn, I’m happy to be back. Love you all.
-Kick
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