By: Sean Crose

And so it seems Tyson Fury is taking his May 18th undisputed heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk seriously. The truth is that, brilliant though he can be, WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Fury is an enigma, a top fighter who always seems to keep the public guessing. While he can perform marvelously in the ring at times, however, Fury isn’t always at his best. This was never more true than it was last fall, when the fighter known as The Gypsy King was dropped and almost defeated by former UFC star Francis Ngannou in Ngannou’s first professional boxing match.

Fury looked bad, of course, but the towering Englishman ended up looking even worse when former heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua literally flattened Ngannou in frightening style just a few weeks back. While Joshua appeared to be well on the road to rebuilding his career, Fury was surrounded by question marks. Did he still have a desire to fight? Would he pull out of the upcoming fight with Usyk? And, if he looked the way he did against boxing novice Ngannou, how in the world would he look against a walking, talking skill set like the WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight champion Usyk?

With pictures of Fury in training now all over the internet, it seems like, at the very least, Fury will indeed slip into the ring to face Usyk. Not only that, Fury will appear lean and mean when the opening bell sounds. For Fury is looking like he’s dropped a ton of weight in training. Yet he doesn’t look particularly weight drained, either. Rather, he looks…in fighting shape. This, of course, is not always a guarantee when it comes to Fury, so it’s good to see that he’s clearly taking the determined Usyk seriously in the lead up to their spring throwdown.

In an interview with Men’s Health, Fury’s nutritionist Greg Mariott makes it clear that preparing Fury for what may be the fight of the man’s life is no small thing. “I do absolutely everything,” Mariott says. “I wake him up with his collagen,’ says Marriott. ‘I don’t leave fighters to anything. I literally live with him. I sit with him. I make sure that I watch him take the vitamins. I don’t want no stone unturned. For me, I give them 100% so I do everything.” The results appear to be self-evident. As for Fury’s last performance? Mariott doesn’t appear to be shook.

“I can promise you, you’re gonna see a different Tyson Fury,” he says of the Usyk fight.

*Image: Top Rank

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