Derek Chisora believes Tyson Fury’s sparring could cost him revenge against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury is currently in training camp in Malta as he prepares for his sequel with previous conqueror Usyk on December 21.
Fury has been sparring in Malta with a number of fighters including Kevin Lerena[/caption]
The ‘Gypsy King’ has been sparring a number of heavyweight contenders to prepare for Usyk including Kevin Lerena and British prospect Moses Itauma.
But ‘WAR’, who has faced Fury three times and has lost on every occasion, believes he needs higher quality operators to prepare him for the uphill task of avenging his defeat to Usyk.
Chisora, who was outpointed by Usyk in October 2020, told Seconds Out: “Do I believe Tyson can beat Oleksandr? I look at the way he’s going in sparring camp.
“I don’t personally believe that with the sparring partners he’s got right now that they’re pushing him to be a menace.
“They’re in awe of Tyson. They will pull their punches when sparring, these are the things I’m seeing.
“What I’m seeing that Oleksandr is doing it completely different. I think Oleksandr is way more like start fast and finish fast.
“He knows he can hurt him now, so he’s going to come and try and hurt him. He keeps saying that he won’t leave him alone.
“I would love Tyson to win, but right now, those odds are not looking great.”
Lerena is currently the WBC bridgerweight champion and has floored Daniel Dubois in a previous defeat, so has some big-name experience.
Itauma is considered one of Britain’s brightest rising stars, and will also compete against Demzey McKean on the undercard of the huge event later this month.
But Fury knows he will need a career-best performance to overturn his defeat to Usyk, and become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
It is a much more stable period of preparations for Fury this time out than for his original loss to the undefeated Ukrainian.
The Briton had been forced to reschedule the bout after suffering a cut in sparring in the original build-up for their planned meeting in February.
And after rescheduling it to May, Fury was unable to spar and had a vastly different training camp.
It is expected he now has a new game plan, and intends to pile on weight for the clash.
And coach Andy Lee, who was in his corner for the defeat, expects things to be different with the sparring expected to impact his performance positively.
“It will be different because he will be able to spar,” Lee told talkSPORT.
“You can do all of the bag, running, weights but two rounds of sparring is more beneficial,. He needs to do sparring and that will improve him.
“I think Usyk will look to feint and come forward, which will force Tyson to engage with him or box and move.
“He couldn’t come forward because he didn’t have the conditioning from not sparring, and he had to take breaks.
“This time round, how he will win it is he will be better conditioned and sharper.
“He can then keep going instead of doing the good work then taking a break and showboating a bit to buy some time.”
