Tyson Fury is preparing for arguably his toughest test to date when he faces Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title, but whether he is successful or not in that bout, ‘The Gypsy King’ may well end up facing an unexpected opponent in the near future.
Fury has shocked fans before, announcing a crossover fight with Francis Ngannou last year, and also taking part in a surprising trilogy clash with his good friend Derek Chisora, regardless of the fact that he had won their previous two encounters relatively comfortably.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Carl Frampton predicted that Fury could soon face yet another close friend of his in Joseph Parker, who has won five fights on the spin and now finds himself amongst the top contenders in the division.
“Absolutely he’s back [speaking about Joseph Parker]. He’s easily in the top five.
“We talk about Ben Davison and AJ [Anthony Joshua] and their link up, but the job Andy Lee has been doing with Joseph Parker has been incredible.
“I think he’s the most improved heavyweight, certainly of the top guys, and probably a better fighter now than he was when he was a world champion.
“It’s not as if he’s calling Fury out but he’s open to a fight with Fury – the year before that they were best mates and that was never going to happen.
“I quite like that. He’s done it before with his mates – look at what happened with Derek [Chisora]. Yeah, stranger things have happened.”
Parker currently finds himself contractually obligated to rematch Zhilei Zhang, and should he win their second showdown, he will likely face the winner of Fury-Usyk due to his position as the WBO mandatory challenger.
