OTTO WALLIN believes he left Tyson Fury as a vulnerable fighter ever since their bloodbath battle.
Fury beat Wallin on points in 2019 but a left hook in round three opened up a horror gash on the British legend.
The Gypsy King battled through almost all the fight barely able to see out of his blood-soaked right eye.
Fast forward nearly five years and Fury sustained another horror cut on his right eye, this time in a sparring session.
It occurred only two weeks before the fight of his life against Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed title on February 17 in Saudi Arabia.
Wallin feels the damage he caused Fury all those years ago has proven long-lasting and something Usyk can exploit.
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He told SunSport: “I’m not a doctor but he had 47 stitches, it was two cuts he had when we fought.
“So of course, I feel that he’s probably going to be vulnerable. It’s also interesting that another southpaw opened it up.
“Of course, Usyk is going to be aware of that but with Tyson you can’t just go for the head or a cut like that, because you might lose your gameplan.
“I think Usyk is smart enough to look at the tapes and see that he really needs to go to the body to set things up.”
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Fury, 35, is now set to face Usyk, 37, on the rescheduled date on May 18.
Meanwhile Wallin, 33, is coming off a brutal five-round beating against Anthony Joshua, 34, in December.
Fury’s performance and tactics against Wallin were slammed by outspoken dad John and sparked a huge change in his career.
He left trainer Ben Davison for American Sugarhill Steward, packed on the pounds and ditched his elusive style in favour of power punching.
It saw him go onto defeat Deontay Wilder twice, KO Dillian Whyte, stop Derek Chisora and edge past ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
Wallin admits the man he shared 12 gruelling rounds with is completely different to the Fury of today.
Otto Wallin: I will be back
OTTO WALLIN briefly considered his career after defeat to Anthony Joshua.
But following a three-week rest period, Wallin is ready to go back to the drawing board and work his way back up.
He told us: “For me now, it’s kind of understanding where I’m at.
“I’m not close to a title shot right now so I just want to take things step by step and not look too far ahead.
“I feel it’s important for me to understand where I am and to work my way up because if you only think about becoming world champion, it feels far away right now.
“I need to take it step by step and rebuild.”
He said: “He’s gone into a way where he’s looking for the knockout more. But I think that he’s not using his feints and he likes to go for the knockouts.
“People want to see knockouts but like I said, what made Fury good was his jabs, his feints, his awkwardness.
“So he’s got to keep that in there and if he can keep everything together; the knockout power that he’s shown, the awkwardness, then I think he’ll be the best in the world.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
