Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury II: Preview and Prediction

Oleksandr Usyk faces again Tyson Fury for the heavyweight supremacy on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In this rematch only the three straps are on the line. Usyk relinquished the IBF version to prioritize the rematch rather than fighting Daniel Dubois.

In the first fight in May, Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) won a split decision to the tune of 115-112 and 114-113 on two scorecards. Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) won the first half of the fight and Usyk won the second half. What made the difference is the 10-8 round scored by Usyk in Round 9. 

In this rematch, I sided Fury to win by decision. I see Fury dominated the first half of the fight in the same manner he dominated last May but will continue to do so until the fight ends in Round 12. This time Fury will be sharp and focus on defending against the left hand of Usyk.  

Usyk will continue what he does best, finding a way to win using his stamina, bouncing on his feet to create more angles and to land his left hand. But Fury will circle to right to avoid those left hand. Fury's jab also will be a big factor keeping Usyk away from his punching range. Usyk will find a way to close the gap but Fury will make sure to smother him to negate impact. Fury UD 12. See you in the trilogy.