MEET the Jersey-based fitness coach who beat Oleksandr Usyk and reckons he knows where Tyson Fury went wrong.
Polish ex-boxer Lukasz Wawrzyczek believes he worked out how to overcome the “much bigger” Usyk in the final round of his tight fight.
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And the 40-year-old insists Fury blundered with his tactics when the Brit lost his undisputed heavyweight title bout to the Ukrainian last weekend.
Wawrzyczek switched to the fitness game after quitting the ring 10 years ago, following 220 amateur bouts plus 20 wins in 26 pro fights.
He then moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands in 2015.
The former welterweight vividly recalls defeating Usyk, who was then a middleweight aged 18, via a three-round points decision at amateur level two decades ago.
He also explained the advice he would have given the Gypsy King for his epic showdown with 37-year-old Usyk in Saudi Arabia – a message that presumably applies equally to the planned re-match later this year.
Wawrzyczek told the BBC of his own encounter:Â “He was very light on his feet and had a very good technique, but I was better.
“From the beginning to the end I was the person who was going forward. I think that’s the clue to win with southpaw boxers.
“He was obviously very good already in defence. However, in that third round everything that I could leave I left in the ring.”
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Wawrzyczek then spelt out out his words of wisdom for 6ft 9ins Fury.
He said: “If you’re fighting a southpaw you have to attack him, you can’t give him any space to win.
“He [Fury] was [going] a little bit backwards and that’s why I think he lost the fight.
“My strategy if I was training Tyson Fury would be very similar to the situation to Anthony Joshua had in his fight against Usyk.
“He did one round like that and he won that round, but he stopped attacking him, that’s why he lost.
“Tyson Fury’s huge, he’s massive, he’s much bigger than Usyk, so he could be that person.”
For all the love for resurgent AJ… these two are head, shoulders and fists ahead of everyone else
OLEKSANDR USYK is the deserved undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, writes Wally Downes Jr
A great biggun doesn’t always beat a great littleun, not when David has the weight of a besieged nation on his shoulders and is able to swing each compatriot into every punch.
Usyk did what Usyk does, he moved magnificently, he counter punched and he outworked his taller and heavier opponent.
He somehow manages to use every physical disadvantage to his favour.
But what the hell is Fury doing getting up in round nine?
Why is a father-of-eight with £300million in the bank, three best-selling books and a Netflix series going to the well like?
Britain is not fighting back Putin’s army, Morecambe is not occupied.
So when the 35-year-old’s senses are scrambled, when the canvas is calling him, when he is so desperate not to be felled he is willing to bounce around all the ropes like a drunk, when he eventually has to collapse into a corner, why doesn’t he just stay down?
He has earned the right to surrender as well as his millions.
The sheer courage and guts and bloody mindedness it takes to climb off that deck, with a broken nose and a crumbling ego is not comprehensible to us mortals.
Fury said he felt he won the fight but was too dignified to call robbery or corruption, no doubt his dad will taint that decency by the time you’ve read this.
The rematch will be superb.
Because for all the love we have for a resurgent Anthony Joshua – who was ringside for that iconic event – these two polar opposite men are head, shoulders, fists, hearts and brains ahead of everyone else.
There is the top two, then there is a void and then there is the rest.
Read Wally’s big fight verdict in full here…