Peter Fury: Tyson Fury got tactics all wrong against Oleksandr Usyk

Plenty will have an opinion on the finest performance of Tyson Fury’s career. Some might point to his destruction of Deontay Wilder in their February 2020 rematch while others – considering the discipline on display against a heavyweight champion who had not lost in a decade – will pick out his 2015 victory over Wladimir Klitschko as the very best of “The Gypsy King”.

In the corner that day, when Fury took control of the heavyweight division for the first time, was his uncle Peter Fury. He was also the man behind the scenes, studying tapes, crafting gameplans, offering advice, and ultimately orchestrating the plan to bring down Klitschko.

Peter Fury, long recognized for his tactical nous, returned to prominence last month when he guided kickboxer Rico Verhoeven to brink the of a monumental upset over Oleksandr Usyk on May 23 in Egypt. Though it ultimately ended in 11^th-round defeat for the 1-1 (1 KO) Verhoeven, it left plenty wondering what might have happened if Peter and Tyson had remained together after the Wladimir Klitschko victory and stayed together right up until Fury, then unbeaten with decades of experience, fought Usyk in 2024.

As it turned out, Peter and Tyson had long split. And Fury ended up losing two close but deserved, decisions across two fights, surrendering his chance to become both undisputed champion and the best heavyweight of his era.

Had Peter been in his corner, however, he would have guided his nephew differently to how Sugar Hill Steward chose to. Fury had plenty of success but too often he waited to counter, he picked and poked, he tried to box the master boxer.

That was not the way to do it, said Peter Fury when in conversation with TalkSPORT.

"You are the bigger man. You come in at 20 stone and done all the wrong things. Instead of going forward, [Tyson] stood back,” Peter said.

"He's got his team there, I'm not criticising anybody, but his tactics in both fights were all wrong.

"If we have a welterweight who throws 1000 punches and a heavyweight, is the bigger guy going to do that with him or step in and throw one big shot?

"They went about it wrong; the strategies were wrong. It doesn't mean to say Usyk was better than him. You get the wrong tactics and that happens.

"When you look at the structure of Usyk, if you stand off and try to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you, he will ping you all over the shop."