Anatoly Malykhin won’t ‘overestimate’ boxing skills in hypothetical fight against Tyson Fury

Two-division world champion Anatoly Malykhin can masterfully dance the fine line between being confident and arrogant.

For one, the Russian mauler knows that he’s virtually unstoppable when it comes to mixed martial arts and freestyle wrestling. Malykhin, though, can also show his humility when called for.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Malykhin said he’ll be in an obvious mismatch if he takes on WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury in a hypothetical boxing match.

Malykhin, however, noted that Fury will be at his mercy when they square off in either MMA or freestyle wrestling.

The ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion said:

“When it comes to boxing, of course, I do not overestimate my chances and I realize that I would have nothing to show against a man who has been boxing all his life and is the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion. Just as he would have nothing to show against me in freestyle wrestling.”

He added:

“Let's put it this way – if I'm a lifelong freestyle wrestler and Tyson Fury fights me in freestyle wrestling, the same thing will happen to him that will happen to me in boxing.”

Malykhin is arguably the most dangerous knockout artist in MMA right now. Though he started his martial arts career as a wrestler, Malykhin turned to his fists once he arrived at ONE Championship in March 2021.

Since knocking out Brazil’s Alexandre Machado in his promotional debut, ‘Sladkiy’ went on a rampage and slept Amir Aliakbari, Kirill Grishenko, Reinier de Ridder, and Arjan Bhullar and established a strong 5-0 record in ONE Championship.