Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk: George Groves Breaks Down Keys to Victory

Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) and Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) will collide in their highly anticipated rematch on December 21, at the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh. The Ukrainian will defend his WBA, WBC and WBO heavyweight titles. As we edge closer to this huge rematch, George Groves has spoken to the Sports Daily and revealed the keys to success for “The Gypsy King.”

George Groves Explains the Key Strategies for Tyson Fury to Beat Oleksandr Usyk

George Groves Reveals Path to Victory for Fury

During their first encounter, Fury had strong moments during the fight, but he did not work the body of his opponent enough. When asked about that tactic: “Yeah, I think going to the body is definitely key to success. If you’re going to look to try and beat Usyk. The body is a bigger target than the head and the head can move more freely than the body can. Orthodox v Southpaw, if that’s how the guys are going to set themselves up. I always liked that as my Orthodox stance was to bring that right hand into the chest, to the belly,” said Groves.

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“Sometimes it might come up to the chin and you always have great success there. And then there was that spell, maybe in the sixth round, I think it was, where Fury looked like he’d sort of settled down into the fight and started to land a few body shots and then was changing the angle a bit and he’d land one or two on the chin and Usyk can’t walk through themshots. He’s not big enough, he’s not strong enough.”

Taking Control

Groves went on to describe the importance of Fury controlling the distance and tempo of the fight with his reach advantage: “He can’t walk through those shots so if Fury can settle, get into his legs and get the distance correct with Usyk and therefore be able to control the time of the shot and keep that arm’s length, that long range. That’s where I think he has success in this fight. Whenever he comes out and takes the centre of the ring, he’s always going to be very difficult to beat because he’s so big. He’s 6’9, he’s got long arms, and he fights with a loose style where he can punch long and loose.”

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He continued: “And obviously with the size, punch weight, he’s got a lot of power. He’s had a lot of knockouts. If he can do that, like we saw in the first rematch he had with Wilder in the second fight where he came out and took the centre of the ring and he commanded the fight by pressing off that front foot, making the guy in front of him have to manoeuvre around the ring. That’s the way he has success in my opinion fighting Usyk.”

Groves summarised perfectly what “The Gypsy King” needs to do: “He needs to come out, stamp his authority on the fight from the get go, not let Usyk into the fight.“