Johnny Nelson predicts that ‘Emotional animal’ Fury will walk away from boxing if he loses to Usyk
Anthony Joshua to fight Fury next, adds former cruiserweight world champion
Former cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson MBE has told BetVictor that defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in Saturday’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia could end Tyson Fury’s career.
“If it’s a bad, devastating loss, Tyson Fury walks away,” the 57-year-old guessed. “Tyson is an emotional animal. A bad loss to Oleksandr Usyk will destroy Tyson.
“Tyson is the boss of his team. Frank Warren doesn’t tell Tyson what to do.
“He has made a lot of money, but he’ll be frustrated with himself if he loses to Usyk on Saturday night. It will break him, it will break his heart.”
Unified WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO champion Usyk has looked accomplished since moving up from cruiserweight in 2019, notching victories over the likes of durable Derek Chisora and hard-hitting Daniel Dubois, as well as two wins over two-time world champion Anthony Joshua.
However, ‘Gypsy King’ Fury poses the Ukrainian his biggest challenge yet, but Nelson argues it as a step too far.
The Sheffield star said, “Usyk is a clever, pressure fighter that’s pressuring you without you even realising it. You work at a pace you don’t want to work at and that’s what he’ll do with Tyson.
“Tyson’s got to use his height, weight, and reach to try and lean on Usyk and bully him, push him back. I believe Usyk is better offensively than defensively so if Tyson believes in himself enough, he needs to make this guy fight on the back foot and that’s where I would lean to being in Tyson’s favour.
“I think this is going to be a tight, controversial, chess match between two clever fighters. The referee is going to have a hard job if he doesn’t keep a hold of this.
“It’s going to be a good fight. I can see knockdowns, but I can’t see it ending in a knockout.
“I think Tyson wins in a close, controversial points win. The best version of Tyson Fury beats Oleksandr Usyk and he should get the job done.”
If WBC king Fury does manage to secure the win in Riyadh, a blockbuster fight with fellow Brit Anthony Joshua could lie in wait. Although a rematch clause is in place for Saturday’s contest, scheduled for October, Nelson believes a triumph over Joshua would cement Fury’s legacy in the sport.
Nelson added, “You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. Fury has beaten all the best heavyweights around at his time.
“Like we did with Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, you can only compare against heavyweights of your time. For Tyson Fury, he’s beaten 99% of the best heavyweights of his time. And quite clearly the next move would be the AJ fight.
“If Tyson wins and if there is a way out of the rematch, they’ll find it.
“As long as the appetite’s there from both fighters, there will always be an appetite for Fury-Joshua here in the UK. The fight will always be there to be made.”
Nelson also added that Saudi Arabia should receive praise for their efforts to ensure the biggest fights in boxing get made. Each of Joshua’s last two contests have been held in Saudi with the Kingdom Arena set to host another blockbuster bout this weekend.
He said, “I know Saudi Arabia has got a lot of stick, there are political consequences that are attached to this but, in reality, Saudi Arabia has given fight fans what we’ve always wanted.
“What they are doing out there in Saudi, as far as I’m concerned, is brilliant. You’ll get people complaining that it’s in Saudi, but most are going to watch it on TV anyway.
“As a fight fan, as an ex-fighter, I love this. I love seeing fighters getting paid well and walking out of this fight game handsomely. I love the fact fights are being made, that there is someone putting all these promoters and banging their heads together. Because no one ever has been able to do that and in Saudi, they are.”