Mike Tyson has highlighted a key change Tyson Fury must make if he hopes to avenge his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk handed Fury the first defeat of his professional career earlier this year via a tight split decision in the inaugural undisputed heavyweight clash of the four-belt era.
Fury was in complete control in the early rounds but the tides turned, particularly in the ninth stanza when Usyk rocked the Mancunian and subsequently scored a standing eight-count.
Prior to this, ‘The Gypsy King’ had done a lot of showboating, which many, including Tyson, felt had cost Fury the fight.
“Hey listen, Usyk surprised everybody,” Tyson told talkSPORT.
“I think Tyson Fury played around too much, I think he needs to be taking this fight seriously and hopefully we get a different result to last time.”
Fury has openly acknowledged that he ‘messed around’ too much.
And ahead of their rematch for the WBA, WBC and WBO titles on December 21, he has vowed to cut it out.
“I haven’t made any adjustments and that’s the truth,” Fury told ESPN of his preparations for a second fight with Usyk.
“The only adjustments will be on fight night where I keep more focused and less clowning in the ring.
“I did a lot of showboating, a lot of messing around – more than I’ve ever done before, actually – against supposedly my toughest opponent.
“I did a lot of f***ing around and it ended up costing me.”
Tyson has urged Fury to cut out the showboating[/caption]
Fury is no stranger to fighting opposition more than once and history tells us that he makes the right adjustments.
After drawing with Deontay Wilder in 2018, Fury overhauled his stick-and-move style and came out far more aggressive for their rematch.
It resulted in a dominant seventh-round knockout win that saw Fury drop Wilder twice en route to the eventual stoppage.
Meanwhile, he was also able to stop Derek Chisora in their sequel after a far more competitive first encounter went to points.
Fury fought both men three times in the end and is hoping to do the same with Usyk after they run it back next month.
“I’d rather have a trilogy with Usyk, and then it would be 1-1, and I’d be the only heavyweight in history to have three trilogies,” he said while laying out his next steps after December 21.
“That would be quite impressive.”
