The promoter of WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) has advised WBC titleholder Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) to get in shape over the Christmas period ahead of a mooted fight against his boxer in Saudi Arabia in February.
Fury looked in poor physical condition when he struggled against boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou 0-1 in Saudi Arabia on October 28.
The 35-year-old Brit was cut in the second round and knocked down in the third. He had to rely on his boxing experience to get him through the fight that he eventually won by split decision with scores of 95-94, 96-93 and 94-95.
The unexpected competitiveness of the fight saw the original date of December 23 for Usyk vs Fury pushed back to next year with a February date being worked on.
Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk says the delay will only make for a better fight providing Fury uses the time wisely.
“It depends on how he gonna spend this time,” Krassyuk told Daily Mail’s The Hook podcast.
“If it brings him to a better shape and better spirit, then definitely yes. But we remember Tyson after he defeated [Wladimir] Klitschko [in 2015] and was supposed to fight in the rematch, he spent his time, let’s say, not in the best manner.”
Ukrainian southpaw Usyk, 36, says Fury may have been trying to fox him with his performance against Ngannou.
“It seems to me that it was Tyson’s plan to relax me,” the former undisputed cruiserweight champion said to TNT Sports Boxing. “But I understand that I’ll have to work very hard in the ring in order to get the victory.”
Fury has never had the muscular build associated with professional athletes. He defended his body shape in an interview with the Daily Mail in the lead up to the Ngannou bout.
“It’s good to have a good body. I would love to have a good body. But I don’t have any hope of having a good body,” he said.
“I have been training for well over 20 years and I still haven’t got a good body. I’ve been in a training camp, living like a monk, for the past 12 weeks and I still don’t have a good body.
“I didn’t have a good body when I was in my teens, so never mind clocking onto 40 years old. But the one thing I’ve learnt is this isn’t a bodybuilding contest. Although I don’t look a man who can do long distance or run for 20 miles, I am a man who can do that.
“I think of myself as an old fashioned kind of guy who can go in there and have a fight, it doesn’t really matter what I look like. It’s about getting the victory. If I had a ten-pack and I looked like Adonis – completely unbelievable and I wasn’t winning, it’s pointless.
“So I don’t really care about being fat. I actually embrace being fat because my love handles separate me from the rest of the world, ever in history. There’s never been anyone like me and there never will be.
“That’s what makes me so tough and that’s what makes me, me. If you said to me, ‘Right Tyson, we will give you the opportunity to get rid of the fat on you and we will give you a full six pack,’ I wouldn’t take it because that’s not me.”
Meanwhile, Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren has revealed he still plans to host a big show in Saudi Arabia two days before Christmas.
“There’s gonna be a big night in December and we’ll be announcing very soon,” the Queensberry Promotions boss said to talkSPORT.
“It will be massive. You’re gonna love it. I can’t give you all the information at the moment, but everything’s going in the right direction for it to be a historical night in boxing.
“It’s gonna feature boxers from all over the world. You will be surprised by the names. There’s some great British fighters too.”
