When John Fury is worried about his son’s chances of winning a fight, it should be time for Tyson Fury to worry. And Fury’s father, speaking with METRO, says his son “needs a bit more time to get his conditioning and weight right” for the massive, four-belt heavyweight unification clash with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury Sr says “something was wrong” when his son fought Francis Ngannou back on October 28, and that he himself doesn’t know what Fury’s team “are doing up there.” Fury Sr has been critical of the way his son has been trained in the past – Fury critical of some of the things Sugar Hill Steward did when training Fury – and now, Fury’s dad is saying the style of fighting he saw from his son in the Ngannou fight “won’t be any use” against Usyk.
Yes, we all can agree that Fury had a bad night against Ngannou, that he had barely trained for the fight. The thinking is, Fury will really push himself and dedicate himself in training for the February 17 fight with Usyk. Still, Fury Sr says his son should postpone the fight so as to have enough time to get back to his best. Interestingly, Fury Sr says that Fury, fighting with the style he has now, “wouldn’t have beaten Wladimir Klitschko.”
“Tyson needs a bit more time to get his conditioning and his weight right,” Fury said. “For me, it looked like he had lost 20lb of muscle last time. Something was wrong. For my money, I have seen a bit of decline in his last three fights. It’s not decline in ability, but a decline in strength, power, and physical condition. I don’t know what they [Fury’s training team] are doing up there. You have to address it. He didn’t look himself out in Saudi. Against the old Tyson, Ngannou wouldn’t have landed a glove on him. The style I am seeing is no good. It won’t be any use boxing Usyk like that, just standing in front of him. You must be clever and agile, as much as he [Usyk] is. But unless you are trained to do that, what can you say? Usyk is a skilful heavyweight and they need to practice for that. The style Tyson has right now, he wouldn’t have beaten Wladimir Klitschko with that.”
Fury, in the opinion of plenty of people, will have to be on his A-game if he is to beat Usyk. Fury must get his tactics bang-on right. But have we seen the best of Fury the master boxer? Has decline set in? Fury Sr says his son “has got it in his head he can knock everyone spark out,” and that this mindset is to his detriment.
“The way he beats Usyk is more brain than brawn,” Fury Sr said.
But will Fury listen, will Tyson get back to what he’s best at in the Usyk fight? Can Fury still box the way he used to? Again, when Fury’s dad is worried going into one of his son’s fights, it really should be time for Tyson to worry. Say what you want about John Fury, but nobody care more about his son than he does.
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