Frequent Tyson Fury critic Carl Froch hasn’t missed the opportunity to lay the boot into the WBC heavyweight titleholder after his fight against WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk was pushed back by three months.
Britain’s Fury 34-0-1 (24) was set to face 37-year-old Ukrainian southpaw Usyk 21-0 (14) in a unification bout to decide the best big man on the planet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February, but a cut suffered by Fury in sparring force the bout to be postponed until May 18.
Froch had long believed the fight would not go ahead for one reason or another and the retired former world champion turned pundit opened up with both barrels when discussing the bout on his popular YouTube channel Froch on Fighting.
“Tyson Fury’s gone and got himself a stupid cut,” he said. “It’s the same mark where the Otto Wallin [cut was]. He got cut in sparring two weeks before the biggest fight of his life. This is the undisputed heavyweight title fight that we’ve been waiting for.
“I am gonna say it – I told you so. I didn’t think the fight was gonna happen, now the fight’s not happening. People are gonna say ‘hold on a minute because he’s cut, he’s not made an excuse,’ okay, fair enough that’s warranted. I’m still yet to see this cut, I want to see a fresh interview until I’m 100% convinced.”
A new date for the fight was quickly agreed to with Turki Alalashikh, chairman of General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, rescheduling the fight for the other side of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Froch isn’t buying it though.
“The date they’ve announced is really convenient,” he said to talkSPORT. “Everybody’s upset, infuriated and deflated that this undisputed everywhere title fight’s not happening. So what do they do? They come out with a date of May 18.
“Take that with a pinch of salt. They’re giving us something to think about. They’re giving us something to talk about and to keep the dream alive and keep all the fans intrigued.
“That date is something that’s been plucked out of the air and I think we’re being paid lip service because you can’t say May 18 because you don’t know what Fury is going to be doing now for the next two months and how that eye’s going to heal.
“It’s nice that they’ve got a date and they’ve put it in there and they still want it to happen but, to be honest, I don’t get excited when I hear that.”
Froch added that he thinks Fury is a washed fighter at 35 and that his trilogy of bouts against heavy-hitting former WBC champion Deontay Wilder 43-3-1 (42) took a lot out of him.
“He’s on the slide, he’s passed his best,” he said. “I watched his fights from when we talked about the Deontay Wilder fight, when he was throwing 20-30 feints every round, he was bouncing on his toes, he was putting combinations together, he was moving a lot.
“Now he’s slowing down, he’s throwing less feints, he’s killing the clock and he’s been dropped four times in his last 70 rounds.
“When you look at statistics and facts they do not lie and I think Tyson Fury is on the slide.”