Roy Jones Jr says Oleksandr Usyk must land multiple knockdowns if he is to overcome Tyson Fury.
Usyk and Fury are set to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era when they clash on February 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jones Jr, who won the WBA heavyweight title in 2003, feels Usyk, who has 14 knockouts from his 21 victories, will have to send WBC champion, Fury to the canvas on more than one occasion to have any chance of winning.
“Fury has been down seven times in his career but he got up every time,” Jones Jr told Pro Box TV.
“That says a lot. It takes a lot of explosive power to put him down but a cruiserweight with explosive power can do it because Steve Cunningham did it.
“Now can you keep him down? That has never happened yet.
“They can put him down, but nobody been able to keep him down.
“So if Usyk can put him down, that would help his cause.
“But I can almost guarantee you that I don’t think Usyk can keep him down, because if [Deontay] Wilder can’t keep him down, I don’t think nobody can keep him down.
“Now can Usyk put him down multiple times to keep him down? That’s something we’ve got to see.
“So if Usyk can put him down more than once, Usyk has a very good chance of winning the fight.
“If Usyk can’t put him down, I don’t see Usyk winning the fight, because Fury is long, Fury is gifted with height and Fury knows how to use his height so he’s not the type of guy that you just go walk in and do what you want to do against, because he has a long jab.
“[Wladimir] Klitschko couldn’t hit him. Wilder hit him and he got up. Nobody we’ve seen, with big names, with big punchers really can land a good enough punch to keep him down.
“Usyk is not known as a big puncher.”
Fury and Usyk were set to meet on December 23, but ‘The Gypsy King’ was afforded more time to recover after a bruising win over former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, where he was forced to climb off the canvas before eking out a split decision.
Usyk defended his unified WBA ‘super’, WBO and IBF titles with a ninth round knockout of Daniel Dubois in August.
The WBA rejected an appeal from Dubois’ team who felt they should have been awarded a knockdown after the Brit dropped the champion to the canvas with what was adjudged to have been from a low blow.
If the Ukrainian is successful on February 17, he will become only the second man to become undisputed champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, behind Evander Holyfield.
