Tyson Fury has been warned by heavyweight prospect Bakhodir Jalolov that his reign as world heavyweight champion could be over within the next two years.
Fury expected to attempt to become the undisputed champion early next year in a highly-anticipated meeting with Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, as well as The Ring Magazine belt. But after that, should he win, he would have a number of challengers waiting to dethrone him.
The winner of a bout between Fury and Usyk would become the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era at heavyweight, and the first since the year 2000. The Manchester native has held all four of the titles, and never lost a fight, but was stripped due to inactivity amid a difficult mental health battle following his 2015 win over Wladimir Klitschko.
And Olympic gold medalist Jalolov believes that while Fury is the current top heavyweight, he will ultimately be undisputed, as early as 2024. The Uzbek fighter made history last year when he won gold at the delayed Tokyo Olympics, and is now 11-0 with 11 knockouts as a professional under co-promoters Probellum and Lou DiBella.
“I think the Tyson Fury is the best heavyweight in the world, and Oleksandr Usyk is very good, obviously, too,” Jalolov told Probellum.com. “Fury for his size, he moves unbelievably. He has unbelievable movement and once again, he is big and heavy. Usyk is a great boxer, but obviously he's small for the weight class.
“For me, I'm not a hero in Uzbekistan for winning the Olympics, I'm not there yet. But once I become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world at that time, maybe they'll call me a hero. Maybe it's not going to happen tomorrow, but maybe it's going to be next year or in two years. But God bless, it is going to happen.”
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The 28-year-old heavyweight star looks to improve to 12-0 on Saturday night against Curtis Harper in California on the undercard of Regis Prograis vs Jose Zepeda for the super-lightweight world title. He had already amassed an 8-0 record in the paid ranks before last year's delayed games, and has continued that knockout streak after winning Olympic gold.
“I'm not just a puncher,“ Jalolov added. “Of course, I can punch, and I know that I have power because every time I land, people go down. But I have much more than that. I have a great footwork, feeling of distance and timing and speed. And my style is not to take nine shots to land 10. I'm not working like that. Instead of winning 10-9, I'll win 1-0. I'll land one, but I'm not going to get hit and that's my goal. Boxing is about hit and don't get hit.”
