John Fury has come out in defence of Tyson Fury‘s controversial crossover clash with Francis Ngannou. Fans had hoped to see the ‘Gypsy King’ square off against Oleksandr Usyk at the back end of the year for all four major sanctioning body belts.
However, that looks extremely unlikely now with Fury set to go toe-to-toe against Ngannou on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In unprecedented circumstances, the reigning WBC heavyweight world champion will face the former UFC heavyweight champion in a twelve-round bout under Marquess of Queensbury boxing rules.
The announcement has not been received well by the public with many branding it a ‘Mickey Mouse fight’. But Fury Sr has placed the blame on the other contenders in the division ‘for not fighting his son’.
He told Express Sport courtesy of Free Bets Ireland: “Well, he’s beat everybody out there. He’s the best in the world. And I think people are just sore because there’s a lot of green-eyed monsters about, and most of it is jealousy, you know because anybody with a brain will know it’s a good business move, it’s a good payday.
You know, I think the people make comments are people who are irrelevant anyway. I know fans are what we want, but what can he do? What can he do? No one wants to fight the kid.
“So this opportunity presented itself. He took it with both hands, and why not? And there’s only the great country of Saudi to put these fights on now because they’re blowing everything out of the water.
“The rest of the world can’t compete with Saudi Arabia. Not a chance. So people today are making comments about things they don’t really understand.
“Muhammad Ali did the same thing when he was lineal champion. What’s he doing wrong? He can’t get a fight, there’s no mandatories. So what does he do? Sits on his arms to please the public?
“I don’t think he’s going to do that. That’s why it’s called professional boxing. It’s about money and business. That’s it. Good luck to him. There’s no more you can say.
“But really, I can understand where the true boxing purists are coming from. But today, like I’ve said all along, the politics in this game, it has become all about politics and money. I’m afraid most of the people are right, it can spoil the job because people don’t want to fight.”