Carl Froch has questioned Tyson Fury’s desire to box, accusing him of suffering from “silver pyjama” syndrome.
WBC heavyweight titleholder Fury 34-0-1 (24) was widely panned for his performance against boxing debutant Francis Ngannou 0-1 in Saudi Arabia last month.
The former UFC heavyweight champion had Fury cut and on the canvas in the third round, impressing many with his boxing ability.
Fury eventually prevailed by split decision in their 10-round non-title bout but questions were asked.
Retired former super middleweight champion Froch says he has heard that Fury is cutting corner in camp as he prepares for his undisputed title fight against WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 17.
The Ngannou fight, says Froch, should serve as a wake up call for Fury.
“When you go in the ring thinking something is a foregone conclusion, you haven’t got the eye of the tiger, the mindset of a winner, you take your time and take it lightly and something goes wrong,” Froch explained to talkSPORT.
“If he rematched Ngannou I’m sure he he could outbox and outclass him. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen that night.
“Moving forward, he has to be the best he can possibly be. I think he’s past his best. He holds his weight, he’s slowing down, he’s cumbersome.
“I’ve had a bit of feedback from his training camp, he doesn’t really want to run like he used to and sparring is not what it was. It’s the same as AJ, the silver pyjama scenario. You check your bank balance and think why am I fighting? He doesn’t really want it.”
Meanwhile, former WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders chalked up Fury’s showing against Ngannou as simply a bad night at the office.
“People can slate me. Ngannou could not beat Tyson. That was Tyson’s worst night. That was his worst day in the office you’ll ever see. You hear people ‘is he washed up, is he that, I’ve head he ain’t looked good in sparring…’,” Saunders said on the Keep a LukeOut podcast.
“He just needs to cut the idiots away, cut the little hangers on that want to there for a meal ticket and be seen lurking around [him]. Cut all that out. Get your team, go and do your work, and go and become undisputed then sail off.”
“I’ve noticed since I’ve been out of boxing what’s what. You sit back and you look, and this goes for a load of people, you know who’s real and who’s not real. You know who’s there for you at war and who’s not there for you at war. Lucky enough Tyson came away with the W – and I thought he won it by maybe two rounds – and it is what it is.
“You won’t see that side of Tyson again if he puts his head down. Let’s face it, he’s got money from here to Manchester. It’s very hard for someone to take someone like Ngannou seriously when he’s got people around him, people who probably know nothing about boxing.”