John Fury is at a loss. The trainer and Fury family patriarch cannot believe his son was allowed to get into the ring with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou at "20%". The man they call 'Big John' derides the lack of "sweat, blood, snot and tears" in recent Fury camps when The Sportsman sits down with him for a wide-ranging chat.
As well as scalding those training his son, Fury also takes aim at reports another of his children, cruiserweight star Tommy Fury, is preparing for a fight with middle-aged icon Roy Jones Jr. John also offered an in-depth preview of this Saturday's 'Day of Reckoning' pay-per-view emanating from Riyadh.
Here's what was said when The Sportsman went one-on-one with the one and only John Fury.
READ MORE:
Rumours are flying that Tommy Fury is fighting Roy Jones Jr in an upcoming exhibition. Is that a bout we’re likely to see?
Not from where I'm standing. I don't know where they're coming from. We did speak to him. Our people spoke to him and then it didn't make much sense on our part. If it was gonna happen, I'd know about it. It's absolutely untrue.
If it isn’t Roy, who is next for Tommy?
Whoever carries weight and puts the numbers up. We'll fight them all. Anybody out there want to fight Tommy? Welcome. But they've got to bring weight, they've got to bring something to the Tommy Fury table. We’re open to all sensible offers.
We're heading into 2024. Let’s hope we can have as good a year as we've had in 2023. There's nothing on the table. Nothing in the pipeline. All offers are welcome. You’ve got to be serious. And people have to be of note.
How’s Tyson looking ahead of the Usyk fight?
I have no idea because I've not seen him. I've been busy doing other things. I've took a break from it for a while. I've had a busy year with boxing and everybody needs a break.
I've not really been around it but as far as I know, everything's alright. He's doing his thing. He's a veteran of the game now. He knows his job. He knows what you’ve got to do. I've not been around him. So I don't know, I can't tell you anything about what he does.
You said recently you’ve become worried about Tyson’s style in recent fights. Can you elaborate on that a little?
I can, but let me make this quite clear. At no time did I ever say Tyson himself was in decline. His training is in decline, everything around his training is in decline. But not Tyson. Tyson showed he can win on 20%. Because that's what he was in Saudi. You saw a 20% Tyson Fury.
If they're telling me he had a 12 week camp, it is alarming. Because he didn't look like he’d had a 12 week camp to me. He looked like he’d just come out of the larder. That's due to his training. His training must be in decline, but not Tyson. He's too good. He's only 35. George Foreman won the world title back at 45 years old. So he's not in decline.
It just needs work. The right sort of work, the right sort of food and the right mentality. And a good swift kick up the arse to say, “Right, get the grinding done.” Sweat, blood, snot and tears to get what you want. I don't think he did that for his last fight. And that's why I've said the training and the camp was in decline, not him.
“John Fury says he was in decline.” I never said that at all. So people need to put the full videos out there and stop clickbait. I said his training was in decline. I'm not knocking anybody because people can only do the best they can. SugarHill (Steward, Fury’s trainer) can only do the best he can. His dietitian can only do the best he can. His strength and conditioner can only do the best he can. But guess what? Their best is not good enough at this level. It showed in Saudi.
Do you think we’ll see Tyson at 100% against Usyk?
How can he be? Because if the people couldn't get it right for Ngannou, how are they gonna get it right for Usyk?
You’ve got to treat every fight like it's the biggest thing in the world, which it is for Tyson. I look at it like this, if your team people right around you can't get it right for Francis Ngannou, how the hell are they gonna get it right for Usyk? Because they can only do their best. Their best looks to be not good enough.
The big Saudi card is coming up this week. I wanted to run down some of the fights with you. First of all, how do you think Anthony Joshua’s fight goes as he meets someone you and Tyson know well in Otto Wallin?
I wouldn't have picked Otto Wallin for AJ. Styles make fights and he poses a problem to AJ’s style. AJ is a big powerful man, he can punch. Wallin’s a difficult fight for where he's at mentally.
You'd have to be 100% mentally and physically right to beat Wallin. So I don't know where his management team is going with that one.
For my money his confidence needs building up again. He’s had a few setbacks. He’s fought nonentities, but he’s gone from a couple of nonentities straight to… for my money Wallin is probably one of the most awkward fighters out there. So I don't really get it. Unless you're getting paid absolute fortunes, the risk outweighs the reward here. You might be getting paid that much money to do this. That probably is the factor.
If I was managing him, I'd look for an easier night than Wallin because he needs fighters to get his confidence back and build him up for Wilder. I'm building up to a sensational heavyweight fight with him and Deontay Wilder. This to me doesn't make a lot of sense. I’d have got him some decent tests. Men he can come through against. It's gonna build his confidence, get him fighting fit again, get him under the lights, get him out there. But ones he can win. This, for my money, it's an awkward night. Wouldn't be for me.
But listen, he's got the power, he's got everything else. But he’s an awkward son of a gun, Wallin. He's got a world class trainer. I've always respected Joey Gamache. I think he's one of the best trainers out there in the world today. (Joshua) has linked up with Ben Davison and he's not been with Ben too long. So miracles you can’t expect. No disrespect to Ben, he's only a young kid and for where he's at in his life he's doing extremely well. But he cannot compete with the experience of a Joey Gamache. He's been a world champion himself and he knows the game inside out and he does train his fighters well. So I think it's an uphill battle.
Joseph Parker is a friend of the Fury camp, How do you think he does against Deontay Wilder?
He's probably getting paid plenty of money to do it. The way Joe Parker's looking at it, he's probably never, at this point in his career, going to get that same kind of payday again in his life.
It's an awkward night but nobody knows how much Deontay Wilder has got left. Parker's a strong man. He's a 17-and-a-half stone dude. If he can put it on him, who knows? He might be shot to bits, Wilder. He's 38 years old. He’s just got tremendous power in that right hand. The only person I see taking that power is Tyson.
Joe's a very strong guy, if he brings it and puts it on Wilder, we may see a fight. Is the occasion gonna overcome Joe Parker? Is he going to be in awe of Wilder’s power? That's yet to be yet to be seen.
If AJ and Wilder both win they’ll likely fight each other. How does that one go down?
It depends. I think it's gonna be the fight that never happened to be fair. There's been that many in the past. Lennox Lewis should have fought Riddick Bowe. It never materialised. I think this is going the same way.
Because if he drops the ball next week with Otto Wallin, the Wilder fight’s not gonna say a lot is it? Because his value drops. Wilder’s always going to be dangerous with the power he's got. You don't know how much he's got left either. He got three good hidings off Tyson didn't he? He’s got a lot of miles on his clock.
But he hasn't. I'm correcting myself because he had 40 easy wins didn't he? They were handpicked for him. Tyson proved that and Tyson went in front of him. But for my money. You've got to pick Wilder in this one against AJ.
But like I say, it's not going to happen is it? We can only talk about stuff that's going to happen. They're putting the cart before the horse and if they're doing that, you've got to beat the man next week, then look to that.
I would have played better chess and got him some fights that were going to stand him in good stead. Two or three, get him in there and build the fight with Wilder. Build it up properly. You know, because Wilder is doing it isn't he? Wilder’s team are boxing clever. Unfortunately, AJ? Not so clever. Because you're looking at a new generation here where the pound note blinds everybody. They’re thinking about the pound note, not the man. What he can do, what he can't do and where he's at in his boxing career.
Dubois goes in with Jarrell Miller on the undercard. It’s a tough fight for the Brit, what’s your prediction there?
If Daniel Dubois hadn’t basically surrendered in two fights, for me, I'd have gone for Dubois all the way. Because Dubois is technically a better fighter than Jarrell Miller. Jarrell Miller's got fast hands but can he sustain a work rate over the course of the fight? I don't know what his condition is like. Miller has been out some time.
But Dubois, for my money his heart is very questionable. Can he take stick off a 20 stone guy? Because Miller’s a 20 stone fellow and he can put them together. Daniel gets hit a few times, and just seems to lose it and can't get it back. Then he starts looking to get out of there and he starts looking for the back door.
I edge Miller, got to edge Miller in that one. Because Miller’s unbeaten, he’s a big guy. He puts his shots together and he’ll want to win. Sometimes in a fight with Dubois, he looks like he don't want to win. He's happy to come second. He's looking to take the back door isn’t he.
Let's look at it this way, he had Usyk done. Why would you do that from a little jab off a blown cruiserweight in the ninth round? You've had the man down, you nearly cut him in half from the body shot. Usyk had nothing left. But the corner work could have been better. It could have been a lot better. Because if he’d have had me in his corner Dubois, the result would have been different. Because we wouldn't have stood for that. I would have invaded the ring, we’ve won, declare a victory from that moment on. We wouldn’t let him (have) 10 minutes to recover. And we’d have spared him the embarrassment of quitting. It doesn't make sense.
We’d have gone mad. I’d have invaded the ring, there would have been no more boxing because for my money, it was a legal shot. He had his trunks pulled up around his neck, up to his chest. It was a legal punch. But they were grooming Usyk for Tyson. That's where the money was, the undisputed with my lad. Or else Dubois would have been heavyweight champion of the world.
It was a legal shot, I’d have invaded the ring. “Right this has happened” and have a massive inquiry. Spared him the embarrassment of going down in the ninth round from a tap.
Does Manchester’s own Lyndon Arthur have a chance against Dmitry Bivol?
Dmitry Bivol, he's got that style where he doesn't do that much. Lyndon can be busy. If Lyndon goes in with movement, if he gets the movement, the confidence and the trickery; he can make a night of it.
But if he gets overwhelmed by his job, he's gonna get stopped. But I think Lyndon Arthur can give him a decent fight, believe it or not. I really do. I've seen Lyndon, on his night Lyndon’s not bad. But he's just got to grow in confidence. But if he gets in awe of the man and lets the occasion overcome him, Bivol will stop him.
John Fury spoke to The Sportsman courtesy of Freebets.com
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
