Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have both sensationally claimed that they are only training for five weeks ahead of their upcoming undisputed heavyweight clash on February 17. Traditionally, boxers will be in camp for 10 to 12 weeks ahead of a blockbuster showdown but the heavyweight duo say they only need half of that time to prepare for each other.
Usyk and Fury sat down with Steve Bunce for a TNT Sports Face Off segment, which is set to be released in the coming days. The mind games were in full swing as both men nonchalantly answered Bunce’s questions.
When pressed on his preparations, Fury said: “I’m not even in the gym. I don’t train this far out come on. Who do you think you’re talking to? A professional athlete? Come on. I train four to five weeks for these fights.”
Bunce then interrupted: “You said you trained 12 weeks for Francis Ngannou.” To which, Fury replied: “Please. Like I trained 12 weeks for Wilder and everybody else. Four or five weeks. How much training does a man need? Three or four weeks of sparring and one week of resting, done.”
Meanwhile, Usyk claims he is also going for a low-volume approach ahead of fight night – although his answer appeared to have a hint of sarcasm in it. “I can keep on boxing non-stop for five weeks,” he said.
Fury fans will be hoping the ‘Gypsy King’ is taking the undisputed fight more seriously than he is making out after narrowly scraping past Francis Ngannou in his last outing. During the bout, the WBC champion looked very rusty leading to suggestions that he hadn’t worked hard enough in the gym.
Even his father, John, claimed that Fury had slacked off with his conditioning. However, English heavyweight champion Sol Dacres, who was in camp with Fury for five weeks, says he was training just as hard as in previous camps.
“John wasn’t really in the camp. It’s all good saying it in hindsight. I was there for five weeks. We were sparring hard, doing 12, 15 round sessions,” he told Seconds Out.
“I’ve been in previous camps and he was training just as hard as previous camps so it’s hard to say. It’s really more on him than anything. The training camp was preparing for a 12-round fight.”
