Tyson Fury 'doesn't want to train hard' with Oleksandr Usyk fight tipped to be scrapped
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Tyson Fury's blockbuster heavyweight fight against Oleksandr Usyk has been tipped to be scrapped by a former world champion.
Shawn Porter still has serious doubts the bout will happen as he claims the Gypsy King doesn't want to 'train hard'.
Months of trash talk finally resulted in the undisputed heavyweight clash being arranged last November.
Fury and Usyk are set to put their belts on the line on February 17 in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Tyson Fury is set to fight Oleksandr Usyk in February
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It is set to be one of the most-eagerly anticipated fights in recent memory, with the pair both risking their unbeaten professional records.
However, with just over six weeks to go, former welterweight champion Porter does not think the fight will go ahead.
The American, now a commentator having retired in 2021, reckons Fury will eventually think twice about fighting Usyk.
Porter claims the 35-year-old would be in for his toughest test to date if he steps into the ring with the Ukrainian.
He says Fury's recent fight against MMA star Francis Ngannou proved he is fighting for monetary gain, not for the bouts he has to train hard for.
Porter told ProBox TV: "You look at a guy like Tyson Fury, a guy who has been around this track so many times, and I think that a fighter will get to a point where they see the hardest night ahead of them and they’re like, ‘man, I just had so many of those hard nights, I am not going to have that hard night’.
"So, even with the fight being signed sealed and delivered, what we know about Tyson Fury is that he is a showman, what we know about Tyson Fury is that he likes things to be his way or no way.
"Me personally, I don’t feel like this is the kind of energy that he wants to that he wants to exert any more in the boxing ring, which is why he went after a Francis Ngannou, because those are the kind of fights that he is looking for.
"He is looking for things that are going to give him the money and the recognition and the nights that he is not going to have to train hard for anymore."
Fury has won 34 of his 35 fights, drawing the first of his trilogy against Deontay Wilder in 2018.
He was knocked down during his fight with Ngannou and many felt he was wrongfully declared winner on a split decision.
Former boxer Carl Froch believes Usyk will go into next month's fight as the favourite.
He claims he will be in a better mental and physical condition than his opponent.
Froch told talkSPORT: "I’m picking Usyk for that one, just because of where Tyson Fury is mentally.
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Tyson Fury was knocked down by Francis Ngannou in October
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"Hopefully Fury can have a good camp and rekindle some of his old greatness in terms of when he fought Deontay Wilder three times.
"He looked good, he looked different every time, he showed us something different. But I don’t know if that’s gone now.
"He struggles to get the weight off him. He seems under-motivated. When he fought Ngannou, he looked confused. Has he got old overnight?
"He carries a lot of weight. I know he doesn’t have to make weight but he does have an optimum fight weight.
"To shift that belly fat and that bread basket that he’s carrying – listen, he’s got weight on him and that weight holds him up. It’s a hindrance, it’s not a help.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk agreed their fight date last November
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"I know you don’t need to be structurally muscular like a weightlifter to be able to perform, but there’s no benefit to having fat round your belly and your love handles.
"There’s no benefit to having that, once you get up to 18 or 19 stone, another 2 or 3 stone.
"Hopefully he turns up and gets the job done, because I want those titles to return to Britain, but at the minute I think Usyk wins that fight."