Olympic silver medalist, and now a professional coach from New Zealand Kevin Barry gave
interview for the British media.
The mentor has worked with famous heavyweight boxers such as David Tua and Joseph Parker in the past. In a conversation, Kevin told his vision of the upcoming fight for the title of absolute heavyweight champion between the unified IBF / WBO / WBA champion from Ukraine Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) and the WBC title holder Briton Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KO).
– Let’s hope that the duel between Usyk and Fury will take place. Does the old boxing adage that a good big boxer will beat a good little boxer come true in this case? It’s definitely not that easy, but are Fury’s physical advantages and boxing skills enough to override Usyk’s technique?
Most likely, the answer to this question is, of course, yes. When it is said that good little fighters always lose to good big fighters, Mike Tyson, who has had a long run of big fighter knockouts, will counter. Look, I think Tyson Fury is a very special fighter, a very unusual fighter. A fighter who appears once in a generation. And we always look at those performances in the trilogy with Deontay Wilder. After the trilogy, it was obvious that he was number one in the heavyweight division. It brings the skills, movement, reflexes, boxing IQ that a true champion needs. I can see how Tyson with his size, build, height and arm span will make the fight very, very difficult for Oleksandr Usyk.
We all know how skilled Usyk is. We all saw his performance against Anthony Joshua. We also saw the improvements that Joshua made in the second fight. I think Fury will look at some of those things. I know that Tyson Fury will not stand there and let Usyk dictate the terms of the fight, like Anthony Joshua did. I think we will see a more aggressive Tyson. The one who sets the battle, exhausting the smaller fighter. Personally, I don’t believe Usyk has the power to shake Tyson Fury. We know his resilience, we’ve seen him on canvas in three fights with Wilder. We know that he is a very, very tough fighter. It’s very hard to knock him out. And he has a great will to win. I just think Tyson is too big.
Usyk “threatens” Fury again – now from the pool: video / Fury did not react to Usyk in the pool as expected
– Let’s look from the other side. What is the best way for Usyk to beat Tyson Fury? If he beats Fury, how?
“I will tell you that I am sure that he has a great team of coaches. Mr. Lomachenko did an amazing job with him in planning his fights and building his skills. They allowed him to be undefeated in his professional career. We know how talented he is. I’m sure that they will develop a plan for a fight with many movements, there is no secret in this. They will also look for a fight with Tyson up close, trying to level out his reach and height. But when I look at it, I see that it will play into the hands of Tyson. He’s very good at close range, he’s very good at using his size to lean on you, to put his weight on you to energize your legs and tire your opponent. It will be very, very interesting. But when we have a fighter like Usyk, who has amazing movement in the ring, who is very, very good at feints… He is a very gifted fighter. All these things create a very interesting and exciting duel.
I’ll tell you one thing. There will definitely be a condition for revenge, it should be. What I don’t like… We saw Usyk in two fights with Joshua and he really started to transform into a heavyweight, more so than the first fight with Witherspoon and the second fight with Chisora, when he looked like a fighter who tries to be a heavyweight but can’t, has no power. He has developed, he is now much stronger. So I don’t like the two fights that Tyson had last year. The fight against Dillian Whyte was a waste of time and the fight against Chisora was nothing but a joke. They won’t help Tyson much. When I watched these two fights, I thought that if he really has problems with his elbow, then he was looking for safe opponents. And he found two very safe opponents – White and Chisora.