Tyson Fury tipped to ‘easily’ beat Oleksandr Usyk as ex-world champion highlights two key factors

Fury vs Usyk has been in the works for over a year and it’s now been confirmed that this undisputed world heavyweight title fight will take place in the Middle East at the start of next year.

This will be one of the last events of this Riyadh Season, with the curtain-raiser being Fury vs Francis Ngannou in October.

Ex-UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou knocked Fury down and perhaps should have caused the biggest upset in boxing history by beating the Brit, who put in one of his worst career performances against his novice opponent.

Usyk will be licking his lips after seeing how Fury performed against Ngannou and ‘The Gypsy King’ will know that he will have to be at a whole other level if he is to hand the Ukrainian his first professional defeat.

Despite this, Toney thinks Fury will beat Usyk because he is a “better boxer” and he’s “more aggressive”.

“Fury. Easy,” Toney said in an interview with ES News.

“Fury is a better boxer. He is a better boxer and he is more aggressive. Usyk, he is a good boxer but he is not aggressive, he boxes to stay safe.”

Usyk’s manager - Egis Klimas - meanwhile is unsurprisingly backing his fighter to come out on top.

Klimas does not think it will be “easy” for Fury to “beat down” Usyk.

"It's not going to be easy to get sparring partners, because Tyson Fury is very tall, with a long reach and he has a very awkward style and he's heavy, so this is going to be the biggest challenge. But I have no doubts that Oleksandr is going to win," Klimas told British Boxing News.

“Factors will be his footwork, his intelligence, his boxing IQ. I wouldn't even say Fury has big power.

"He has a lot of weight and he leans on fighters. That's how he wears them down. But it won't be easy to beat down Oleksandr.”