Tyson Fury has not fought since his comfortable win over Derek Chisora in December, and it feels like he has been linked with a different potential opponent every other week since.
Even stars from the MMA world have been tipped to fight Fury, with both Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou the most high profile of these.
‘The Gypsy King’s former opponent, Dillian Whyte, recently fuelled rumours by saying that he had heard the Ngannou fight was on the table.
However, on a recent appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, former two weight world champion Andre Ward encouraged Fury to stick to actual professional boxers for the time being.
“I don’t see Tyson fighting either one of those guys [Jones or Ngannou], I really don’t. I think Tyson is really trying to figure this boxing thing out. I want to see what happens with him in boxing.
He seems to be having trouble getting a fight in the boxing ring, much less an MMA fighter. I think the boxing world is a bit upset with him right now, we hear you talk but where’s the fight, so if he veered that way right now, I don’t think it would be the right time.
Get a boxing fight – Usyk or Joshua – then go and fight one of those guys.”
Skill Challenge Entertainment have made no secret of their intention to stage Fury vs Usyk for all four belts in the oil rich nation, and announced an official promotional deal with the Ukrainian earlier this month.
The plan is remarkably to stage the legacy defining undisputed fight on the same bill as a bout between Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder, in what would be an unparalleled night for the heavyweight division and the sport as a whole.