Frank Warren has hit out at rival promoter Eddie Hearn for his string of poor boxing predictions after he claimed Tyson Fury's fight with Oleksandr Usyk wuld be boring.
Fury plans to come out of retirement to face Usyk after previously suggesting his title defence against Dillian Whyte in April was his last fight. He stated his intentions to accept an undisputed title fight after Usyk defeated Anthony Joshua in their heavyweight rematch last week.
In the aftermath of Joshua's defeat to Usyk, it emerged Fury would be next for the Ukrainian with talks already held for a meeting later this year or early in 2023. And Matchroom Boxing kingpin Hearn believes Usyk will have too much for Fury despite his significant size advantages. “ Tyson Fury doesn’t want to fight Oleksandr Usyk,” Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show.
“But he may have to because the money might be so big. It’s actually not a very good fight to watch, but it’s an intriguing fight to watch, because I think they’re going to negate each other a lot with movement. I don’t think Fury’s going to be chomping at the bit to fight Usyk. I think he could beat him, but I would favour Oleksandr Usyk in that fight. Just because I think he’s so good."
Warren has now issued his response, writing in his Daily Star column : “He said that Deontay Wilder would beat Tyson on three occasions. He said that we would not sell any tickets in America yet it broke the record for a heavyweight fight in Las Vegas. He said that Dillian Whyte would beat Tyson and we wouldn’t do any business for that fight yet it broke the Wembley box-office record and our man won by knockout.
"He said that Anthony Joshua would knock out Usyk twice. He even said Canelo Alvarez would beat Dmitry Bivol. His boxing predictions are about as good as haemorrhoids would be for Frankie Dettori. Whatever happens, after Joshua’s defeat last weekend, Hearn is now out of the heavyweight title picture.”
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Fury will likely be the favourite going into the fight with Usyk, having defeated both Wilder and Whyte in his last two fights. The 'Gypsy King' also possesses significant size advantages which Joshua failed to use successfully in his two fights with the Ukrainian.
Former world champion Andre Ward believes Fury will go one better than Joshua by using his size to defeat Usyk. "I believe this will be the case in this situation,” Ward told Max Kellerman when asked if he he thinks Fury will beat Usyk. "You can’t write Usyk off by any stretch of the imagination, but Tyson Fury is not Anthony Joshua.
"Tyson Fury has an amateur pedigree. Tyson Fury is big and has got a range, and he knows how to use it. He’s not conflicted about his style. He’s not conflicted about the type of fighter he is. “