Wladimir Klitschko shares brutally honest prediction for upcoming Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury rematch, recalls phone call with 'The Cat'
The Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury rematch won't differ much from the first, with Wladimir Klitschko expecting his countryman to emerge victorious once again. His thoughts on the unified heavyweight title bout were shared in an iFL TV interview with Kugan Cassius.
Besides his prediction for the fight, Klitschko's interview also featured a glimpse of Usyk's underrated sense of humor, as Klitschko recounted a humorous phone conversation with the former.
"I have to repeat the story of end of March. This year, Oleksandr called me and wished me a happy birthday and he said, 'I wish you that your dream to become the oldest heavyweight champion of the world will come true.' I said, 'Oleksandr, what are you saying? You're still in preparation before your first match with Tyson Fury. Please keep me in retirement.' And so we laughed about it. He kept me in retirement."
As for the rematch between Usyk and Tyson, the latter of whom Klitschko faced and lost in his second-last boxing match, there is no doubt who will emerge victorious in his eyes.
"I'm expecting Oleksandr to do the same to win the fight. It's going to be challenging and complicated because we don't know Tyson Fury is after his first defeat. Mentally, mostly. We don't know how Oleksandr is after having continued success, as he's been just absolutely demolishing all the heavyweight fighters. It doesn't matter how tall they were, how heavy they were and what stance they had, so he managed all of them. So he's absolutely strategic fighter, so I do believe that he's gonna make it this time as well as he did in the first fight."
Check out Wladimir Klitschko's prediction for Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2 (1:40):
Oleksandr Usyk has a particularly stellar record against British fighters
Along Oleksandr Usyk's journey to undisputed heavyweight supremacy, he has defeated England's very best. His spectacular run against British fighters began with a cruiserweight title win over Tony Bellew. After a brief detour, when he beat Chazz Witherspoon, an American, the Ukrainian faced Derek Chisora.
He outworked him in style, continuing his reign of terror over Britain by subsequently beating Anthony Joshua twice, knocking out Daniel Dubois, and handing Tyson Fury his first-ever loss.