Bob Arum admits Tyson Fury’s display against Francis Ngannou has alarmed him ahead of his showdown with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury and Usyk are set to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era when the pair meet on May 18 in Saudi Arabia.
‘The Gypsy King’ had to climb off the canvas before labouring to a split decision victory over ex-UFC heavyweight champion, Ngannou in October, with the Cameroonian then ruthlessly wiped out by Anthony Joshua in two rounds last month.
Arum, who co-promotes the 35-year-old WBC champion alongside fellow Hall of Famer, Frank Warren admits his charge has questions to answer following his lacklustre performance last time out.
“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,” Arum told Box Nation.
“So I looked at it as a 3 or 4-1 fight in favour of Tyson Fury.
“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?
“That’s what we’ll find out on May 18.”
The heavyweight champions were supposed to fight on February 17, however Fury was forced to pull out after suffering a huge cut in sparring.
Usyk retained his unified WBA ‘super’, IBF and WBO belts with a ninth round knockout of Daniel Dubois in a bout marred in controversy over a low blow, which Dubois’ team subsequently appealed unsuccessfully.
Fury believes the Ukrainian is vulnerable to the body and feels this is an area he can expose.
“Move your head and I’ll cripple you to the body,” he told Box Nation.
“I don’t care. Either way he wants it.
“It’s very difficult for him and his team to figure out a way of beating me.
“There only way of beating me was ‘oh he had a bad performance against Ngannou.’
“So the cliche is, his legs are gone, he’s old, he’s had a lot of wear and tear, he hasn’t lived the best lifestyle.
“That’s what they’re banking on.”
