DON'T KNOCK IT
Tyson Fury says he ‘feels sorry’ for Oleksandr Usyk in rematch after failing to knock him out in first fight
Gypsy King named the one fighter who would have knocked him out
TYSON FURY claims his spirit is too strong to be broken by Oleksandr Usyk’s powder-puff punches.
Fury survived a standing count after having his skull rattled in an explosive ninth round of their undisputed world heavyweight clash in May.
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The Gypsy King’s nose was also smashed in the eighth on the way to a split-decision defeat to the Ukrainian.
But despite the shellshocked Brit stumbling round the Riyadh ring — with only the corner post holding him up — Usyk failed to land a knockout punch.
And ahead of Saturday’s multi-million-pound rematch in the Saudi desert, Fury warned his bitter rival: “I’m not a quitter.
“When I look in the mirror, I don’t see a quitter.
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“I see a man who would do anything to keep going and survive, keep getting up.
“If I get knocked down nine times I’ll get up ten. And that’s it.
“Why do I do it? If I didn’t want to do that, if I didn’t have it in me, I wouldn’t be a boxer, I’d be doing something else, playing darts or something. But that’s my job, so it’s what’s expected, isn’t it, of me? Anything less is no good.”
Fury, 36, has proved on a number of occasions that his recovery powers are one of his key assets.
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He bounced off the canvas in sloppy early bouts against Neven Pajkic and Steve Cunningham.
He also twice climbed off the deck in two of his iconic WBC title wars with Deontay Wilder.
Oleksandr Usyk puts Tyson Fury rivalry aside and invites Gypsy King to the pub to 'drink beer' and cheer on Man Utd
Usyk’s brutal, ninth-round left hand robbed Fury of all of his senses for several seconds but did not put him down.
And Fury insists the 37-year-old Ukrainian’s punches are not as powerful as some heavyweights.
Fury added: “If I had him in that position, I’d have knocked him out cold.
“If I’d have been in that position with Daniel Dubois, I’d have been knocked out cold.
“Usyk can punch you hard but there are different levels to power.
“One man can switch you off like a TV and one man can hurt you and try to wear you down. When I got knocked down in round four of the third Wilder fight — twice — I thought, ‘It’s f***ing fight or die now’.
“But in that fight with Usyk, I didn’t feel, even in round nine, that I was about to be taken out. I feel sorry for him in the rematch.”
Win, lose or draw on Saturday, multi-millionaire Fury will likely pursue an overdue British superfight with former champion Anthony Joshua, followed by a clash with IBF king Dubois.
And adoring wife Paris knows better than to try convincing him to swap trading punches for stocks and shares.
Fury added: “I train every day. I love what I do. I went for a run with my mate the other day and I asked him, ‘Do you think we’ll still be doing this at 50?’
“I will be doing it until I can’t run any more. It’s what we do.
“My grandfather, he jogged three miles the day he died. So it’s in me to do it all my life.
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“Paris doesn’t say anything. She knows I like to do what I do and it gets me out of the house, doesn’t it?
“What else am I going to do? Sit around counting money like that, ‘Ten, 20, 30, 40, 50’? It’s what I do.”
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