Tyson Fury's promoter has admitted he is not sure which version of the fighter will show up against Oleksandr Usyk after his "dreadful" performance against Francis Ngannou.
Fury was dropped by the former UFC champion last October before going on to eek out a points win in Saudi Arabia. Fury was forced to move his undisputed clash with Usyk from December to February as a result before rescheduling it again, this time for May 18, when he was injured in sparring.
Fury looked out of shape against Ngannou but appears to have lost a considerable amount of weight since that night as he attempts to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. But promoter Bob Arum admits his fighter's performance last year has created doubt in his mind.
"I always, once this fight was made, I always felt that Fury was a big, big favourite because I thought his size and his boxing ability would be too much for Usyk. So I looked at it as a three or 4-1 fight in favour of Tyson Fury," he told Box Nation. "But I’m troubled with the way Tyson looked in his last fight with Ngannou in Riyadh. I was there, I thought he looked dreadful.
"Now, there are two explanations. One, he really didn’t train hard for that fight, or two, when we put on years we don’t function as well as we do when we were younger, physically, so is this what we’re seeing with Tyson, based on the Ngannou fight, or was it that he didn’t take it that seriously and wasn’t prepared? We’ll find out on May 18."
Paris Fury speaks out on pregnancy 'rumours' in loved up NYE post with Tyson
Fury, meanwhile, is looking forward to the chance to prove he is the best heavyweight of his generation. “There are so many belts on the line and nothing competes with that,” the WBC champion he said.
“This is the fight of the ages, nothing can compare with this. Not a show fight, not a crossover fight, not YouTube boxing, nothing. This is two undefeated world heavyweight championships colliding for all the belts and it hasn’t been done since whenever.
“Both guys fighting have beat everybody else so this is it. Whoever wins this fight is the best of this era regardless of what anyone’s opinion is or what anyone wants to say. Whoever wins out of me and Usyk is the best of this era.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
