By Harry Davies
Tyson Fury has been warned by former opponent Steve Cunningham that he could be disqualified against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury is just over six weeks away from his undisputed heavyweight world title fight against Usyk that was originally supposed to take place in February, but was pushed back after Fury was cut in sparring. Fury is hoping to put on a better performance than he did in his last fight against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, when he was dropped and only won by a single point.
“I believe Ngannou only looked as good as he did fighting Fury because Fury didn’t take fighting an MMA guy seriously. Ngannou does have unbelievable power, though. He landed a clean shot on Fury, who wasn’t in shape at all. I was surprised at that but not at the fact that Fury got up and outpointed him," Cunningham told World Boxing News.
Fury fought Cunningham over a decade ago and fought back after being dropped to win by stoppage. "I think Usyk wins by decision against Fury. Either that or Fury gets disqualified. Fury’s going to have to lean and lay all over Usyk to tire him down as he does usually. I think the referee will be alerted to this before the fight [by team Usyk] and Fury will lose points,” Cunningham added.
Fury or Usyk will be crowned as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and their fight could be scored by six judges instead of three to try and avoid any judging controversies. WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman is concerned about the possibility of a bad scorecard ruining the fight and has proposed the major rule change.
If Fury is able to get past Usyk it means a fight between him and Anthony Joshua could finally be made after nearly a decade of build-up. Joshua did what Fury couldn't in his last fight by knocking out Ngannou but Fury scoffed at claims that Joshua is currently the best heavyweight in boxing.
"I'm sure that Oleksandr Usyk will have something to say about that given he beat him twice," Fury said. "For the actual real boxing, it’s me and Usyk who fight for the undisputed heavyweight world championship of the world. I had a s*** performance against Ngannou, that’s what a boxer should have done with him, but if he fights next year it’ll be a different game."
