Eddie Hearn has drastically changed his mind about what is going to happen when Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk on February 17.
This historic undisputed heavyweight match-up will be the first in 24 years and it will find the two best in the division finally coming to blows out in Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season.
The fight will happen just over three months after one of the most contentious nights of Fury’s career when he struggled to beat Francis Ngannou in October.
After that fight with the former MMA star, promoter Hearn declared the undisputed contest a ‘mismatch’ that ‘no one wants to see’
“Usyk is a special breed, we’ve [Anthony Joshua] had two cracks at him. Usyk-Fury is a mismatch, no one wants to see it.”
Hearn has now spoken to Boxing Social and seems to have changed his mind and is now siding with the Lineal champion.
“I think Tyson Fury, Look, there are a lot of signs that he might be in decline after the Ngannou fight. But if he is back to his best, if he is firing on all cylinders, I do expect him to win that fight.”
Whether or not Fury had an off night back in October or whether the 10-round battle actually showed signs that he is slowing down is one of the hottest topics in boxing right now. It means that predictions for what will happen when he faces Usyk cover just about every scenario with Evander Holyfield saying he ‘will not be able to complete’ and Fury’s own father sharing concerns about his style.
At this point Fury has a lot to prove if he is to become the first undisputed champion in almost a quarter of a century.