The father of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) says his son will have to take matters into his own hands if he wants to defeat WBCA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 17.
John Fury reignited his one-sided feud with trainer SugarHill Steward, who he believes did not have the younger Fury properly prepared for his 10-round non-title split decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion and boxing debutant Francis Ngannou last October.
“If he’s woken up and smelt the coffee, it’ll be a Tyson win. If he hasn’t, good luck to the other team. The best team and the best man will win on the night,” Fury Sr said to the Daily Star.
“Can I compare SugarHill and with what I’m seeing with the rest of the team, with Usyk? From the last showing, definitely not. Everyone is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
“But if they get it wrong, it’s a bad place to be wrong, the heavyweight undisputed championship of the world. It’s a bad place for an error.
“But Tyson’s that good, his balls are that big, and he’ll just say, ‘sod you’, just get me a drink and let me do my own thing. Like he did in the last three rounds with Ngannou. The instructions he was getting last time were pathetic.
“At the end of the day, people can only do what they can do. Tyson’s skilled and if the job ain’t working in the corner, he’s gonna do what he does best – use his own brain and do what works for him.”
Fury Sr has long been critical of Steward as a trainer and his son’s performance against Ngannou has only given him more ammunition to throw the American’s way.
“They’ve got to give it a 100 percent improvement. Anything less, well, they’ve dropped the ball, haven’t they? Whether they can or whether they can’t, I don’t know. What I heard last time, it was all about this 12-week camp… all they need to do is start impressing me,” Fury Sr continued.
“They want to start next month on the 17th, and if they don’t then it’s Tyson’s own fault. There’s nobody else to blame, only him. I voiced my opinion. I’m not the brains of Britain, but I’ve been around this game a long time, and you’ve got to work, haven’t you? You’ve got to have some muscle in your frame, you’ve got to be strong and you’ve got to look the part.
“He just didn’t in his last fight against Ngannou, not taking anything away from Francis. He did a marvellous job, a much better job than I thought he would do. But then again, he’s had Mike Tyson training him – an all-time great himself.”