The president of Zhytomyr’s “Polissya” Hennadiy Butkevych is confident in Alexander Usyk’s early victory over Tyson Fury and hopes for Alexander as a player of his club.
— Mr. Hennadiy, have you become a boxing expert already?
— Actually, I practiced boxing when I was a schoolboy. In my life, there are two sports — boxing and football. I practiced football more, but I have expertise in both. In my youth, I participated in competitions in both boxing and football. Many people start boxing, but a large part of them quits boxing after a few months. Because it is a difficult sport. You can get hurt on the face.
— Who will get hit more in the face on Saturday, Usyk or Tyson Fury?
— We see that Tyson Fury has lost weight. I am confident that he will go on the attack from the first rounds. The British team already understands how difficult it is to withstand Usyk’s frantic pace for the entire duration of the fight. With each subsequent round, it will be harder to fight him. So it is not advantageous for Tyson to let the fight go to the later rounds. He will do everything to seize victory as quickly as possible. Alexander, on the other hand, needs to demonstrate his class and catch the Briton on the counter.
— And how do you think the rematch will end?
— Usyk will win early. In which round? It’s hard to say. I will dare to put it between the 7th and 9th rounds. But I emphasize that forecasting in boxing is just as thankless as in football. You make a suggestion, it doesn’t come true, and everyone starts saying, “what an expert.”
— Usyk has signed a contract with “Polissya” and he even has a club jersey with his own number. Should we expect him to take the field next year in an official match? After all, making a symbolic substitution at the 90th minute of the game is an interesting step from a marketing perspective...
— We talked about this with them today. If he has the opportunity, he will go with the team to Turkey for training camp. There will be friendly matches — sparring, as they say in boxing. And he will also try to work with the team during the training camp.
— Has signing a contract with Usyk helped strengthen the “Polissya” brand?
— Undoubtedly. How did you guess?
Maxim Rozenko