Carl Froch has spoken out about the criticism Tyson Fury has received as he looks for his next fight.
The WBC champion is known to be targeting an opponent in September after last being in the ring against Derek Chisora in December. Discussions with Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua have both fallen flat, leading the lineal heavyweight champion to pursue alternative options.
The failure to organise an undisputed fight with Usyk has been pinned on Fury in certain boxing circles due to demands made during the negotiations. However, former world champion Froch called for the ‘Gypsy King’ to receive more respect from boxing fans, though does understand their sense of frustration.
READ: Tyson Fury teases 'big announcement' as WBC make key next fight decision
“He has been getting a lot of stick lately. He’s called out quite a few people, he’s not been boxing, the fight with Oleksandr Usyk never happened and people are blaming him. I don’t like to see it, he’s a great champion,” Froch told his YouTube channel.
“Don’t forget, Tyson Fury is the main man in the division. He’s the man that’s led heavyweight boxing now for years, so don’t tune out of him, because, let’s be honest, put him in with any of the other heavyweights and you pretty much know what the results gonna be. So he deserves respect – but he is annoying people.”
Fury recently teased on social media that a ‘big announcement’ was imminent. Meanwhile, there are reported plans for an undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk to take place in Saudi Arabia at the end of the year, but Froch has doubled down on his perception of Fury in an interview with Talksport and raised a key question about the potential fight with Usyk.
"How serious is he about fighting Oleksandr Usyk? He's making all the noise, but there's nothing getting signed,” Froch said. “It's getting frustrating now, it's getting annoying listening to Tyson Fury because we all wanna see Tyson Fury fight. And I'm not so sure how serious he is now about fighting.
"If he gets too out of shape and he's out of the ring for too long, it gets past the point of no return and all of a sudden he's gonna find himself in a hard fight against somebody who's bang average."
"I think Fury would be too big for Usyk, but it's got to be an on-point Fury, it's got to be a Fury that's 100 per cent on his game and fit for 12 rounds,” the former world champion continued.
"He's gonna have to be fit for 12 rounds because if Usyk decides to stay out of range and box and not engage, just jab his stomach and jab his arms and jab his chest, then take what he can when he's in range - that could be a 12-round disaster for Tyson Fury.
"So I'm not so sure he jumps straight with him and that may be the reason why he priced himself out of it, because I think he did price himself out."
