Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will face off in February to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
Following a knockdown scare in what was supposed to be a routine crossover bout against Francis Ngannou, Fury’s stock has taken a hit.
Speaking to Gambling Zone, former super middleweight champion Carl Froch says he now makes Usyk the favourite.
“Hopefully he can turn up like the guy that fought Deontay Wilder three times, put in a performance and keep them belts in Britain. I think it he does fight Usyk that fight could go either way.
I’m making [Fury] a slight underdog – even though to start with I made him a favourite because of the sheer size of him. Usyk’s a proper fighter. Proper strong mind. He’s a warrior. I can’t ever imagine him ever getting beat by anybody cause he’s so good, but who knows. A good big’un always bets a good little’un.”
It’s a far-cry from his previous prediction, in which he said that, whilst the fight wouldn’t be easy for Fury, he would ‘dominate’ the smaller man in Usyk. Such is the hangover from the Ngannou fight.
Froch said he reckons ‘The Gypsy King’ is past his best and ‘mentally troubled.’
“Based on what I’m seeing and what I’m hearing, Tyson Fury’s past his best, he’s on the slide. He’s big anyway, but he’s got this big weight round his waist and he struggles to lose it now.
He’s in his mid-30s. Financially free. Listening to him and watching him on that Netflix documentary, he’s mentally troubled.”
All predictions will be put to the test come February 17 in Saudi Arabia, although ‘The Cobra’ isn’t even sure that will happen, claiming that the fight could be pushed back to March to allow the Brit better preparations.