Trainer Dominic Ingle insists former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury shouldn’t have been beaten by the smaller fighter Oleksandr Usyk last May in their undisputed clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ingle’s Argument: Fury Wasn’t Fit Enough
Ingle feels that Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) “wasn’t fit” to maintain his dominance when he had Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) briefly hurt in mid-fight. He says all Fury had to do was keep the pace for the remainder of the fight to get the win, but he couldn’t do it due to his conditioning.
Fury did look badly conditioned, but that’s been the norm for him in recent years. He beat Deontay Wilder, Derek Chisora, and Dillian Whyte while looking chubby. No one made excuses for Fury’s conditioning in those fights. Only after Usyk beat him did people come to his defense, blaming the loss on him not looking trim.
Ingle fails to mention that Fury was badly hurt in the ninth round by Usyk and saved from a knockout by the referee. The A-side fighter, Fury, was given a rare standing eight count just when he needed it to prevent him from being finished.
“For me, Tyson wasn’t fit enough because in the rounds that he did get to the top side of Usyk, and there were two or three rounds in mid-fight where he had Usyk in trouble, it’s just a case of sustaining that for the rest of the fight. He couldn’t do it. So that means he wasn’t fit enough,” said trainer Dominic Ingle to the Boxing King Media YouTube channel, discussing his view on why Tyson Fury lost to Oleksandr Usyk last May.
“Tyson Fury, he shouldn’t have got beat by Usyk because Tyson Fury at his best, and I don’t believe he was at his best, would have beaten Usyk. So, for me, he wasn’t fit enough. If you’re a lighter fighter like Usyk, that’s what you’ve got to do,” said Ingle.
Fury’s Age and Usyk’s Skill
Fury is an old 36 who is closer to his mid-40s, and he wasn’t going to beat the comparatively young and spritely Usyk. The difference in physical age and conditioning between the two was too much for Fury to win. There’s no way Fury can be at his best without a time machine bringing him back to 2015. He’s old, and he’s not going to be at his best.
“You’ve got to try and gas the bigger guy. Keep him under pressure and keep him working; keep them throwing shots when you’re not actually doing anything. That’s what Usyk did. He pressured him and made Tyson do things that he shouldn’t have been doing. Tyson should have been nice and calm and kept it under control, but he didn’t,” said Ingle.
Usyk won because he was a superior fighter to Fury and dominated the second half of the fight with his pinpoint shots to the head. Moreover, Fury couldn’t use the mauling tactics that he’d grown to rely on to win his fights under trainer Sugarhill Steward.
When Fury tried to grab and lean, Usyk would shove him away hard. Without that, Fury was helpless, forced to try and beat Usyk with his skills rather than his wrestling. He couldn’t do it because he lacked the talent.
Fury is a big guy who hasn’t gotten by with size all these years and careful match-making done by his management. His best wins were against an old Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder. That’s it. Fury’s entire career has been from those two, and he would have lost to Wladimir in his prime and should have been beaten twice by Wilder.
“He kind of worked to what Usyk was doing instead of controlling the fight himself and making Usyk fight the way he wanted to fight. Tyson has enough ability to keep it under control. He didn’t do it because he didn’t have it in the tank; he didn’t have the reserve when he needed to step on the gas to subdue Usyk. He couldn’t,” said Ingle.
“Tyson, realistically, shouldn’t have been out on his feet against Usyk. He shouldn’t have gotten anywhere near him. With the height and reach Tyson’s got, he didn’t utilize it properly to keep him long and away,” said Ingle.
Damage from Wilder Fights
Fury has never had a great chin, even during the early part of his career, but his three fights against Deontay Wilder likely diminished his punch resistance. He was knocked cold in the 12th round in the first fight with Wilder in 2018 and surprisingly given a count.
Fury received what many felt was a slow count in the third fight when Wilder dropped him in the fourth round. Although Fury escaped what should have been two knockout losses, those fights took something out of him, leaving him vulnerable to Usyk.
The left hand that Usyk hurt Fury within the ninth round had enough power to knock out anyone in the division, and he took it but was in bad shape. The flurry of punches that Usyk rained on a defenseless Fury after that should have resulted in the referee stopping the fight.
