It has been over 25 years since the sport of boxing has seen an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world as Lennox Lewis was the last fighter to hold all the belts at heavyweight in 1999. Well, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will be looking to add their name to the list this weekend. For most fans and pundits, the fight is too close to call. However, veteran trainer Teddy Atlas has a clear winner in mind.
Teddy Atlas provided an extremely detailed breakdown of the fight in the recent episode of his podcast, ‘The Fight with Teddy Atlas.’ In it, the 67-year-old made a strong case for each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses, but eventually went on to make his pick, saying,
“It’s been twenty five years since we’ve had one. Where there is going to be one guy. Where you go back to the days where you walk down the street ‘Hey who is the heavyweight champion of the world’ where people actually have a chance to come up with a name. People don’t have the chance nowadays to come up with a name. There are too many names. But after this, we’re going to have one name, I think that name is going to be Usyk.”
Going into the fight, both fighters are coming off extremely different wins. Usyk put on a clinical performance to secure a ninth-round knockout win over Daniel Dubois. Fury, on the other hand, held on to secure a win against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou. However, as he has done in the past, Fury will be aiming to perform at the highest level when the lights are shining the brightest.
Teddy Atlas lists the major factors that could affect the outcome of the fight
In the video, Atlas mentioned that his recent fight against Ngannou might have served as a wake-up call for Fury. He claimed that it would have shown Fury the consequences of taking an opponent lightly. In addition to this, Atlas also talked about how the rescheduling of the fight might make a difference as it was originally supposed to take place in February.
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The sudden rescheduling might have disrupted the training routines of both fighters. However, according to Teddy Atlas, the boxer who continued to train hard without taking a few weeks off will suffer massively in the fight. He claimed that rest and recovery are important, and the fighter who has respected that will have a better chance come Saturday night.
Well, with Atlas picking Usyk to become the 26th undisputed heavyweight champion in boxing, it remains to see if such a prediction will turn out to be accurate.
