With just two weeks to go until the first heavyweight undisputed fight in 25 years, the rumour mill is now working in overdrive as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk put the finishing touches on training camp.
Fury and Usyk come together on February 17 in Saudi Arabia. The Ukrainian Usyk holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts, but Fury is looking to win those for the second time in his career to add to his current WBC title.
Last week it emerged that big-hitting cruiserweight Jai Opetaia had left the Brit’s training camp, which immediately had people speculating about why, though all concerned parties have said it was due to the lack of orthodox sparring.
Former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson is adamant that he has heard the rumours and believes them, saying he has been told ‘The Gypsy King’ has been ‘turned over’ by sparring partners.
This rather feeds off the line that Fury’s less than perfect last showing against former UFC champion turned boxing novice Francis Ngannou indicated he might be in decline as he enters the back end of his career.
Speaking to IFL TV, Nelson has now been asked to clarify how reliable his sources are.
“Very reliable and I’m quite sure if Fury’s team sees this they’ll be p**sed off, not at me, I’m just the messenger, they should be p**sed off that someone in camp is chatting their business.”
One man who dismissed these claims is Eddie Hearn. Opetaia’s promoter has called them ‘absolute rubbish.’ Either way, fans don’t have long to find how what shape Fury is truly in.