Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, was clearly disgusted by Tyson Fury’s latest showing in the ring.
The WBC heavyweight titlist from Manchester, England, found himself floundering at times in his ballyhooed 10-round “crossover” match with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou last Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
What was supposed to be a routine, even lopsided, win for Fury turned out to be a near-disaster for the brash heavyweight champion. Ngannou, who made his boxing debut on this night, shockingly knocked Fury down in the third round.
But Fury would eventually scrape by with a split decision win; one judge had it for Ngannou.
The fight preserved Fury’s already-announced undisputed heavyweight championship against unified champion Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian, who was seated ringside, admitted he was sweating bullets after Fury went down in the third.
In an interview, Krassyuk, Usyk’s promoter, made it clear he wants his charge to defeat the Fury of yore, the one that defeated Deontay Wilder twice in a row—and not one that seemingly trudged into the ring on Saturday night.
“He didn’t treat the guy seriously,” Krassyuk said of Fury in an interview with SecondsOut. “His performance last night does not show us anything serious for our fight with Usyk. It means that Usyk should not look at this Tyson Fury because this version of Tyson Fury is not the one that we want to beat. We want a different Tyson Fury.
“We want him to take rest, to work and to come back at his top. That’s the guy we want to beat. This version we had last night is a sin to fight with a man like that.”
Although Dec. 23 was long rumored to be the tentative date for Fury vs. Usyk, that no seems to be the case. Promoter Frank Warren told reporters that he want Fury to rest up for the remainder of the year, saying that the fight with Usyk is more likely to take place in either January or February. (Fury was seen the next day sporting a bruised left eye and a cut on his forehead.)
Krassyuk seemed to indicate that there was no legal position for his team to enforce the Dec. 23 date, which is Usyk’s preferred date.
“He will lose a couple more millions of fans for running away from Usyk,” Krassyuk said of a scenario in which Fury refuses to fight on Dec. 23. “[Uysk] will get upset, definitely, yes.”
By Sean Nam