Tyson Fury will be 'forced' to gamble his belts against Francis Ngannou this year, according to UFC legend Rashad Evans.
Evans is backing Ngannou to beat Anthony Joshua in March and become a heavyweight boxing champion by the end of 2024.
Fury and Usyk will battle it out in their re-arranged undisputed fight on May 18, putting their belts and unbeaten professional records on the line.
The bout was initially set for February 17 but Fury sustained a cut above his eye in sparring last week to put it back three months.
Tyson Fury has been backed to take a gamble and fight Francis Ngannou again
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The Gypsy King knows he has to perform better than he did last time out against Ngannou last October.
Former MMA star Ngannou knocked Fury down on his professional boxing debut and only lost via a split decision.
Many felt the Cameroon-born star deserved victory in what would have been one of the biggest upsets in the sport.
Ngannou will next enter the ring against Joshua on March 8 and Evans is confident he will beat the Brit.
Evans says that result will make Fury want to fight Ngannou again and give him a chance of becoming a world champion.
He also claims Fury will want to prove to people that he can beat Ngannou with a more convincing performance than last October.
Evans told GiveMeSport: "I mean, it's hard for me to put anything past Francis, man. That performance and now he's gonna be fighting Anthony Joshua.
"I mean, I think he's gonna do it. I made a prediction at the end of [2023] and I said: ‘I think that Francis Ngannou is gonna be a heavyweight boxing champ by the end of the year’.
"With [beating] Anthony Joshua, I feel [Ngannou] kind of forces Tyson Fury to take that step where he gambles the belt and Tyson Fury, provided he gets past Usyk, he's gonna wanna take that gamble.
"He's gonna wanna take that gamble. So he's gonna show people because, to him, you can win a fight and have your hand raised, but inside, you know, when you really lost a fight, you know, and even though Tyson Fury won that fight. He knows. He knows."
Fury will become the first four-belt undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 if he beats Usyk.
Evans says the 35-year-old has a shout to be considered one of the best heavyweights of all time.
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Francis Ngannou almost caused Tyson Fury a huge upset last October
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He added: "What Francis showed me in that fight with Tyson Fury is that no matter what your advantage or your perceived advantage can be, if he puts his mind to it, he could do it…
"[People] don't really understand how huge that was for him to be able to do that.
"Not only is [Fury] the champion now, but honestly speaking, looking at skill for skill I would say technically speaking, he's one of the better heavyweights to ever do it.
Anthony Joshua will fight Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia in March
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"When you look at the speed, when you look at the footwork, when you look at everything that Tyson Fury brings, he’s a mix of a lot of different great boxers.
"He's got a jab like Larry Holmes, he's got movement like Muhammad Ali – at times, he's got power like Mike Tyson, he's a great combination of fighter."
