Jai Opetaia says he would have liked to have seen Tyson Fury do more in his loss to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st in Riyadh. He’d hoped that the former WBC champion Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) would have shown a “different version” of himself in the second fight with Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs), but he couldn’t do it.
Fury, 36, was different than the first fight. He was far, far worse and looked like he didn’t even try hard to win the fight. It could be that Fury, with his adopted Fagin look from the Oliver Twist movie, was afraid to get knocked out. So, he played it safe and didn’t show Fagin’s ruthless and cunning traits to manipulate his way to victory.
The scores were 116-112 x 3 for Usyk. Like in the first fight, Fury refuses to accept his defeat and complains that he deserves the win. He made a mess of himself at the post-fight press conference, saying, “I believe until the day I die that he had won the fight.” It’s too bad his promoters didn’t muzzle him to close his yap. He looked like a classic example of a poor sport in utter denial. I had it scored 118-110 for Usyk. It wasn’t even close.
Opetaia’s Analysis
“I wanted a different version of Fury. I wanted him to do more, but I suppose it was the same sort of stuff. Usyk is just an animal. He’s a beast,” said Jai Opetaia to The Stomping Ground, reacting to Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury in their rematch on December 21st.
“He’s a f**** little rabbit. He just doesn’t stop. It’s hard to beat a great fighter like that. You’ve got to take your hat off to Usyk because you can’t fake that stuff. That’s hard work to be able to box like that for 12 rounds. That’s hard work. So, you’ve got to be able to respect that.
“If it happens, it happens. I’m always open for it,” said Opetaia when asked if he’d be interested in fighting Usyk if he returns to the cruiserweight division. I would never knock down a fight like that. It’s a fight that I would take with both hands 100%.
There wasn’t anything Fury could do win the rematch. What he needed a working time machine to bring back the young 2015 version of himself for the Usyk fight. This old version couldn’t do it.
“Right now, I’m focused on the eighth. I’ve got a job to do. Let’s get it done,” said Opetaia about his title defense against #10 IBF-ranked contender David Nyika.
