Carl Frampton has said Tyson Fury looked ‘ridiculous’ after weighing in at 281lb for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, who beat the “Gypsy King” again on Saturday.
Seven months after outpointing Fury in Riyadh, Usyk produced the same result in the Saudi city, retaining the unified heavyweight titles.
In fact, the Ukrainian beat the Briton more easily this time, with 116-112 scorecards from all three judges, after earning a split decision in May.
Fury had promised an aggressive approach in the rematch, and his career-heaviest weight of 281lb seemed to back up that claim. Yet Fury, 36, was unable to effectively use his size to bully Usyk, 37, who weighed 55lb lighter than the former champion.
“I think he should have been more aggressive in the fight,” former world champion Frampton told Talksport on Tuesday (24 December). “I was disappointed with the size of him and the weight he came in at. It looked ridiculous, to be honest.
“I think because he was so heavy, it’s harder for him to carry that about and he blows out a little bit prematurely, because he’s just so big. I think that was an issue for him, I really do.
“Fury trains hard, I know he spars a lot, but what is he eating? How many calories is he putting in? Look, people are different. Some people are body beautiful and get into shape and ripped up pretty easily, some people have athletic physiques and whatever.
“But if you’re training hard twice a day, lifting weights and running and sparring, and everything else, I don’t know how you can look like that.”
The suggestion that Fury faded as the fight went on, perhaps due to his weight, was backed up by the judges’ scorecards. One official gave Usyk the last seven rounds (out of the 12 contested), and the other two gave the Ukrainian six of the last seven.
Fury and his promoter Frank Warren criticised the scoring. But while Indy Sport gave Fury two of the last seven rounds, we arrived at the same scorecard as the judges: 116-112.
