Today, fans still talk about the Tyson Fury vs. Francis Nganno fight that took place a few months ago, and in that bout that was supposed to be a no-brainer, it shocked everyone. At that time, the MMA fighter made his professional debut against the undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Fury, who was knocked out by Fury, who won the points but was on the cusp because of his terrible performance.
As for the reason for Fury's poor performance, some people think that he did not prepare well, some people think that he despises his opponent, and some people think that Naganno is a wizard and took Fury by surprise.
This week, the African Congolese star Martin Barclay, who served as Fury's sparring partner, broke the news that the reason why Fury was slacking off in the clash with Naganno was that he did not prepare seriously at all, so he almost lost an upset.
"To be honest, I was in Fury's training camp at the time, and if you ask me what I think of this fight, I'll tell you I wouldn't be surprised if Nganno knocked Fury down," Barclay said. Frankly, Fury wasn't 100% focused in training camp. ”
When asked why Fury didn't focus on the fight for Nganno, Barclay gave the reason: "I think he influenced the idea of playing against Nganno because of the agreement with Orekosandr Usyk. ”
Barclay is a long-term sparring partner for Fury, and he has helped the opponent in many previous games, so he knows Fury very well, and in Barclay's opinion, when Fury prepared to play against Naganno last October, the intensity was different from many previous games.
Barclay said: "I've never seen Fury prepare like this, he had four rounds, six rounds in training camp, maybe Fury was thinking about something else, he also knew that he wasn't 100 per cent focused, this is not the Fury I know, compared to the previous preparation for Vladimir Klitschko, Derek Cesola, Dilian White, the preparation is completely different from the previous fight against Nganno. ”
Next month, Fury will face Usyk in a unified boxing bout, with the winner taking home all four belts. Barclay, who is also very familiar with Usyk and has also served as a sparring partner, thinks it will be very interesting to see this as a collision of two different styles, and when asked who will have the last laugh between Fury and Usyk, Barclay said that he is "helpless".
"It's a tough question to answer, really hard to answer, and it should be 50-50," Barclay said. Usyk could win the game if the points were to be decided, but it would be a surprise that he could suffer a knockout match. As the 'Gypsy King', Fury has to correct his mistakes, you know, if Fury had stopped Usyk, people would have said that he had made a mistake in the previous battle with Naganno and didn't take it seriously. ”
It is understood that unlike the previous preparation for Nagano, Fury is now sweating and trying to take Usyk to rewrite history, and he has hired former IBF welterweight champion Jay Opetaya and heavyweight rising star Moshe Itauma as sparring partners, both of whom are left-handed. Fury and Usyk both showed weaknesses in their last match, and it is unclear whether the two will take advantage of each other's weaknesses in the February 17 contest.