Duke McKenzie has warned Tyson Fury that making weight for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk will play into the Ukrainian’s hands.

Fury suffered the first defeat of his professional career against Usyk in May and now they are ready to relaunch it December 21 for three of the four major world heavyweight titles.

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Throughout the lead-up to their second fight, Fury has spoken about needing to go into “destructive mode” to beat Usyk while recent photos suggest he accumulates wood to achieve this approach.

Britain’s first three-weight world champion McKenzie insists adding weight to Fury’s already large frame will be to his detriment and explained why on the latest episode of talkBOXING podcast from talkSPORT.

“He (Fury) doesn’t live, eat, walk or talk about sports, but you’re supposed to,” McKenzie said.

“Between fights is where fights are won and lost. We know Fury explodes, gains weight between fights, and then he has to shed all that weight again.

“Now they’re trying to tell us Fury is going to be bigger and better.

“Bigger and better isn’t going to beat Usyk. It really isn’t.

“If he gains more weight and thinks, ‘I’m going to intimidate Usyk this time, I’m going to come in and take him down, I can take his shots because I’m a lot bigger’, it’s not going to work for him.

“He’s going to be slower, he’s going to be more predictable, he’s going to get hit more often and a lot sooner…

“Usyk wins the rematch all day, I don’t see how Tyson Fury beats him. He’s not going to knock Usyk out.

“This guy is undefeated, so you have to look for chinks in his armor.

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“Does this guy have a bad motor? Does he get cut? Does he fall? Does he have to get up off the ground to win fights? Usyk doesn’t have to do any, he never showed any vulnerability.”

The old WBC heavyweight champion weighed in at 18 pounds (262 pounds) for his inaugural meeting with Usyk after tipping the scales at a career-heaviest 19 pounds (277.7 pounds) for his crossover clash with Francis Ngannou during its previous release.

Fury claimed he was in the “best shape of his life” for his latest fight, but was quick to point out that this was not “the real Gypsy King”.

Posting to his Instagram Story last month, Fury uploaded a photo of his physique before his loss to Usyk, with the caption: “I was in the shape of my life, but that’s not the GK ( Gypsy King).”

In a second image, pasted alongside, of his second fight with Deontay Wilderhe wrote: “It’s him, 19th 11 pounds, murderer. »

After drawing with Wilder in their first fight in 2018 by boxing off the back foot, Fury packed 17 pounds for their sequel two years later and beat his opponent.

He knocked out Wilder in the seventh round and weighed 4 pounds heavier for their trilogy fight against KO Wilder in the eleventh stanza.

If Fury’s pre-fight comments are to be believed, it appears his intentions are to do the same in his rematch with Usyk.

“The last time I went to boxers, I was cautious,” Fury told TNT Sports.

“I hit him in the head. Let’s talk about the facts. Anyone can get caught, like we’ve seen in a lot of these heavyweight fights.

“But this time, I’m not going to make a decision by points. I’m going to eliminate myself!”

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