Tyson Fury will need to use his full repertoire of skills if he hopes to beat Oleksandr Usyk.
The pair are set to rematch on December 21 after the Ukrainian slickster defeated the Brit to become boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era in May.
Usyk got off to a good start but was outboxed in the middle rounds by a confident Fury.
‘The Cat’ then rallied in the second half, winning the eighth before dropping and nearly stopping Fury in the ninth stanza en route to a hard-fought split-decision victory.
Before the fight, several members of the boxing fraternity insisted Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, was too small to beat Fury.
‘The Gypsy King’ outweighed Usyk by 39lbs on the scales and had a remarkable six-inch height and seven-inch reach advantage over him, yet he wasn’t able to make it count.
Fury’s former foe Otto Wallin believes the Brit needs to make the most of their size disparity if he hopes to win the second fight.
When asked by talkSPORT.com what Fury has to do to exact his revenge on Usyk, the 33-year-old said: “It’s a tough one. Just looking at him, he’s a big guy so he has to keep Usyk off him and outbox him.
“He must keep him away but he’s difficult Usyk, he’s a very good fighter.
“The way he hurt Fury last time was pretty amazing. For a smaller guy coming up from cruiserweight to hurt Fury like that and almost take him out.
“Fury has to be very smart and keep him off him, use his long arms and when he gets close, tie him up and lean on him.
“But he was trying to hold him last time and Usyk got out of it and just kept punching.”
Wallin caused Fury all kinds of problems when they boxed in 2019.
The Swede was supposed to be a routine tune-fight ahead of Fury’s rematch with Deontay Wilder, but ended up opening a deep cut above Fury’s right eye in the third round which affected his vision for the rest of the contest.
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The ‘Gypsy King’ held on to win on points but had to dig deep to eke out the rounds.
He later required 47 stitches and plastic surgery after the damage inflicted by Wallin.
Following the fight, Wallin strung together a six-fight winning streak but his momentum was derailed by a stoppage loss to Anthony Joshua in December.
He is now scheduled to return to the ring for the first time since the defeat against Nigerian puncher Onoriode Ehwarieme on July 26 in Atlantic City.
