A body language expert says Tyson Fury appears anxious around Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury and Usyk battle it out for undisputed glory in under a week’s time.
The winner will be crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis achieved the feat.
Ahead of the huge clash, Darren Stanton has analysed ‘The Gypsy King’s’ body language and believes he is masking his true feelings.
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Speaking to BonusCodeBets he said: “The key thing from this is what we call a reverse, or an upturned smile. It happens when a human naturally experiences an emotion like sadness, but is trying to artificially convey happiness instead. However, there are contradictions in his body language. Quite simply, he’s trying to look indifferent and as though Usyk’s threat has not bothered him, but his non-verbal signals betray what he is trying to say.
“The upturned smile and the way he retreats back from the camera, before the slight raise of his eyebrows, suggests confusion and anxiety. In its most pure form, Fury’s body language is showing signs that he is intimidated and disgruntled by what Usyk has said to him.”
“Another key giveaway is the fact that his voice pitch and volume are extremely low, almost indistinguishable compared to his normal baseline pattern. The way he leans forward suggests interest in what Usyk has to say, but the way he withdraws and immediately tries to counter with this upturned smile suggests an element of fear.”
Stanton added: “With English not being Usyk’s first language, his phrasing is certainly bizarre and the message itself could almost be read on a script as a gesture of good will. However, the context makes it completely different and this seems to have rattled Fury.”
“I’ve spent years researching Tyson Fury and his body language and I really like him as a person and as a fighter. But what we are seeing here is a very different version from the usually brash and boisterous ‘Gypsy King’. This feels very unlike Fury and as though Usyk not being fazed by his mind games has affected him before their undisputed title fight. He may well have finally met his match!”
