Tyson Fury’s trainer, SugarHill Steward, has a premonition. He believes Fury will knock down Oleksandr Usyk with just a jab – in the first round.
Fury takes on Usyk in the long-awaited undisputed heavyweight championship clash, live on Sky Sports Box Office this Saturday.
Steward suggests the world should expect the unexpected, right at the start of the fight. “Jab, and then a feint and a jab, boom!” he told Sky Sports when explaining how Fury might engineer the knockdown.
The trainer’s uncle was legendary coach Emanuel Steward, who guided Lennox Lewis into his position as the sport’s last undisputed heavyweight champion as well as leading Wladimir Klitschko to dominate the division in his era.
More than a decade ago, the late, great Manny Steward had a prediction for Tyson Fury too.
In 2012 he told Sky Sports: “Tyson Fury has the ability and my expectations to be the next superstar dominant heavyweight much along the lines of Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.
“Very talented for a big guy. Unbelievable coordination. A lot of showmanship and personality and charism.
“He captivates attention just because of his mere size but also his personality is very, very good. I believe that because of the way he’s learning and improving he will be a very strong force and the British fans will once again be dominating the heavyweight division much like they did in the Lennox Lewis days.”
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Frazer Clarke says Oleksandr Usyk’s stare down during Fury’s workout is a great indication he is solely focused on the job in hand
Remarkably Fury stands to take on Lewis’ undisputed status, the first heavyweight to do so in 25 years, if he can overcome Usyk on Saturday.
He would further that Kronk legacy as well. Fury trained at the famous Detroit gym early in his professional career and brought in Manny Steward’s nephew SugarHill as his main trainer before his second fight with Deontay Wilder in 2020.
Fury’s trainer was overcome with emotion when he recalled the old Kronk and his uncle’s influence.
“I think about it sometimes but not too much,” he told Sky Sports. “Emanuel had Lennox Lewis for about seven years as a champion then Wladimir Klitschko for like 10. It was 16, 17 years, where Kronk or Emanuel held the heavyweight championship.
“And now here with Tyson, it seems kind of funny. I know it’s like no other place.”
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Usyk’s camp jokingly say Fury could be in an underwear advert and believe he is too skinny
SugarHill instilled the Kronk way of fighting in Fury – to go for the knockout, to ‘get them before they get you’. It paid off handsomely with Fury stopping Wilder in their second and third fights.
“It’s the basic fundamentals that nobody teaches,” he said. “The proper fundamentals of boxing to take care of yourself. That’s the first thing. For me as a trainer, it’s for me to teach this fighter how to take care of his or herself. That’s my main goal, it’s nothing else.
“That’s just the way I look at it. I’m teaching this fighter how to take care of himself, how to hit and not be hit. How to think. Just give them the best chance they can get. These things are just not taught.”
Those fundamental techniques will be so important to both fighters in Saturday’s contest.
“I believe that’s going to tell the fight, the footwork,” Steward said. “I think it’s just the footwork. If you’ve ever seen me train I don’t look at the fighter, I look at the feet, the feet tell me everything.
“I just believe it’s going to be one of those fights, it’s a footwork fight and makes it interesting. I’m happy to see it. I want to see what’s going to happen.”
Fury will bring the Kronk way into this fight too. Steward says he will be going for the knockout. It is also the Kronk way to seek out the best. That is exactly what this undisputed championship fight is.
“I never underestimate Usyk. I believe Tyson Fury will kick his a**. But I never underestimate him because if you don’t think highly of Usyk then you’ll get your a** kicked,” Steward said.
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Fury says he has a surprise ringwalk lined up for Saturday night
“He wants that challenge. This is the one,” the trainer continued. “[Fury thinks] if this guy is supposed to be the one, then that’s the one I want.
“Some fighters may not want that. May just feel like I’ll take the easy route, I don’t want the tough fights and I’ll just continue to be champion forever and don’t have any tough challenges. Tyson wants the best.
“It’s the same for me. I’d rather have him fight the best, than to fight somebody who’s not the best.
“How do you know who you really are? We all want to know who we really are. We want to get challenged. The challenge is what brings us up to these moments where we are now.”
It’s one of the biggest sporting events in a generation. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk collide for the undisputed world heavyweight championship on Saturday May 18, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the fight now.