A body language expert says Tyson Fury’s behavior showed he was not confident about winning the Oleksandr Usyk rematch.
Fury suffered his second loss to the Ukrainian, losing a unanimous decision. It rules out any hope or need for a trilogy fight, as Usyk will go down as the best heavyweight of this era. Fury looked much more comfortable in the build-up compared to the first bout, raising hopes he could win. In the first fight, Fury showed visible signs that he was not 100 percent in the right frame of mind. During the kick-off press conference, he butted heads with Usyk, trying to exert his physical advantage over him.
READ: WATCH: Mayweather Reacts To Fury’s Second Usyk Loss – ‘Usyk Is Taking Over’
But the Ukrainian stood his ground, showing he was not going to be intimidated. During the final face-off in the presser for the first fight, Fury refused to look at Usyk. Usyk stood alone at the face-off, staring directly at Fury, whose focus was on the crowd. Usyk ultimately won that fight via a split decision.
In the rematch, Fury’s demeanour changed. He was much more on the offensive, saying he would knock out Usyk.
During their final face-off, he locked eyes with Usyk, and the two stared each other down for over ten minutes. As they were being separated, Fury fired verbal shots at Usyk, who once again refused to back down. But when it came to the fight, Judi James noticed something different. She felt Fury’s sudden gasp of air before the fight began, showed a fighter who was looking for this to be over as soon as possible. Perhaps that was a sign he was not ready to do whatever it took to get the win.
“There was one key gesture though that seemed to signal a motivational glitch or problem and which acted as a red flag in terms of his chances of winning this fight. A very chilling gesture of the puffing out of air as he got down to the business of the fight suggested he just wanted to get it over with, whereas successful boxers tend to look excited by and longing for the fight itself. ‘Some of the best boxers have approached their fights looking like dogs pulling to get off the leash and get stuck in,” Judi James said
James was also not convinced by Fury’s victory celebrations in the aftermath. The following picture shows him with both arms aloft in the air as a sign he was confident of a win. But the wider body language may suggest this was an act to convince himself he had done enough. Tyson was also adamant he won the first fight, with many clearing seeing Usyk as the winner. The boxing stats had Usyk as the winner again. He landed more punches, with 179, compared to Fury’s 142. Even the AI scoring had Usyk winning 118-112.
“The way he then rubbed his nose in a cut-off gesture made the victory displays look like acted bravado though and he stared at the press with wide, rounded eyes from a battered face while his deep sighs registered sadness. ‘His “I won that fight” came with a smacking of the lips and then a lip clamp to suggest he’d hear no argument. ‘But then the hurt began to show. Fury rocked in his chair in a self-comfort ritual and in a micro-gesture of pain he shook his head from side to side, rubbed his mouth and closed his eyes in a wince,” James added
