Former WBO cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson says he has heard that Tyson Fury is being ‘turned over’ in sparring ahead of his undisputed heavyweight clash with Oleksandr Usyk on February 17.
This comes after rumours emerged last week claiming the king of the cruisers Jai Opetaia had dropped Fury while they shared some rounds together. The Aussie puncher, who is set to rematch Mairis Briedis on Fury and Usyk’s undercard, had been brought into the Gypsy King’s camp in Saudi Arabia due to his stylistic and dimensional similarities to the Ukrainian.
Like Usyk, he is a nimble southpaw of a similar height, build and reach so it seemed as if Opetaia would play a crucial part in Fury’s preparations. However, Opetaia is said to have headed back home after completing just five rounds with Fury leading to murmurs that he had floored the lineal heavyweight champion.
Yet according to Fox Sports Australia, the reason for Opetaia’s short stay was due to ‘a lack of orthodox sparring in Fury’s camp’. Opetaia’s entourage have also since rubbished the rumours that he knocked down Fury in a statement released on social media although speculation remains rife.
During a recent appearance on talkSPORT‘s talkBoxing podcast, Nelson spoke about some worrying stories he had heard coming out of Fury’s camp. “I’m hearing rumours of what’s happening in camp – I’m hearing that he’s getting turned over in the gym,” he said.
“So this thing about appetite when he’s in the gym, I mean, he got shown his a***. I’m hearing these things and I’m thinking has he taken his eye off the ball, or has time caught up with him?
“In regards to his last fight, I put that down to him disrespecting the man in front of him and if you’re led to believe he had the best training camp, his legs had gone.
“I’d expect Tyson Fury to beat Oleksandr Usyk, but the Tyson Fury who boxed Ngannou in his last fight gets knocked out. If that Tyson Fury turns up then it’s done, it’s over.
“The reason why I said ‘the legs are gone’ line is that I remember Tony Bellew saying it about David Haye and at first I was like ‘what?’, but when I saw it I knew what he was talking about.
“I might be saying something that might not be too popular – I expect him to win, I just think he dropped the ball in the last fight. These rumours I’m hearing, I hope they’re just rumours set about by him.”