Tyson Fury treated Oleksandr Usyk to either a dress rehearsal of their megafight in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night or a master class in deception.
Open work outs are normally a couple of minutes of prancing about plus a little pad work if the public are lucky.
In 40 degrees of night heat, which limited his rival world champion to only a little more than the usual, Fury put on a 25 minute show.
If it is in his grand plan to become The Undisputed Gypsy King of the heavyweight ring by spending much of the fight switching to southpaw, then that was what he showed the watching Usyk.
Along with the remarkable speed of hand and foot for a giant which has been restored by his weight loss and weeks of hard work.
Tyson Fury showed remarkable speed of hand and foot for his size, thanks in large part to his reduced frame
The Gypsy King opted to switch his stance to southpaw for much of the open training session
Oleksandr Usyk was in the ring for less time than Fury but he too switched up his stance in the session
Fury looked fantastic as he showed also that he will use his still heavier bulk to lean on and wear down Usyk. As well as movement to lure his man out of his preference for boxing on the back foot and into danger into danger.
It was mightily impressive. But they do say in this hard game that the gym is a liar. Was Fury revealing the truth in advance or laying a false trail?
That adds yet another layer of fascination to the coming clash between the two; Fury’s power and the technical genus of the smaller Usyk.
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