No cut for Tyson: Fury’s beard remains for Usyk

Tyson Fury will be able to fight with his long beard this Saturday night against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) chose not to shave and was given the green light to compete with a lumberjack beard.

Usyk’s team reportedly complained about the beard and wanted Fury, 36, to shave it, but has no plans to do so. His rationale for having a long beard is unclear, but some believe it helps cushion his chin and protects him from being hurt again by Usyk’s powerful left hand.

Why the beard now?

Fans believe a large beard provides extra protection against punches on the chin, where Fury was injured in the first fight. If this is why Fury chose to keep the beard, it suggests a desperate man willing to do anything to win.

A clean-shaven Fury was badly rocked in the ninth round by a left from Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in their first fight on May 18 and saved by the referee, who gave him a well-timed standing eight count . .

“He has a beard, and there have been a lot of fighters over the years who have fought with beards, and that’s it,” Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports Boxing.

Fury’s decision to grow a long hillbilly beard suggests he is absolutely desperate to win, looking for every possible angle to get the W on Saturday night against his former conqueror Usyk. The Gypsy King must win to get the trilogy match against Usyk that Turki Alalshikh wants to happen.

Is Fury trying to curry favor with Turki by shaving? I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the reasons the Gypsy King wore a beard, along with the chin guard.

Desperate fury

There is a lot of money for Fury if he can get the third fight with Oleksandr, in addition to the two likely ones that are expected to happen against Anthony Joshua.

We don’t really know why Fury chose to fight with a beard, as he treated the rematch with Usyk differently than his previous fights. He claims he hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris in three months, since he began his retreat. If true, this suggests that Fury is desperate to win and is doing everything he can to get the win.

Fury appears to have gone through an accelerated aging process following his loss, and you can tell the defeat hit him hard mentally. People age during times of stress and it seems Fury has been 10 years since his first fight with Oleksandr.

Given how desperate Fury is to win, hopefully, he doesn’t resort to fouling Usyk on Saturday night. Current and former fighters have come out to recommend Fury beat up Usyk to help him win.