Billy Joe Saunders worried: ‘He’s got a bit bigger but in a way that might be a disadvantage’

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Former boxing champion Billy Joe Sauders has given what looked like an honest view of his friend, who is a boxing champion, ahead of a historical fight.

Saunders said the following to Keep A Luke Out following his friend Tyson Fury’s unsavoury performance against boxing debutant Francis Ngannou on October 28: ‘I think he’s very good technically. I think he is probably one of the best technical fighters at heavyweight that we’re gonna see. He’s not on the biggest side.’

Tyson Fury’s next fight will see him facing lineal heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in what will be a long-awaited, undisputed world heavyweight championship bout. Unlike before Fury’s faceoff with Ngannou, Fury is not expected to come out on top at the end of the match, since many believe that his out-of-form performance and his inability to dominate a debutant are clear heralds of his future defeat.

While fighting Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury found himself lying on the canvas in the third round and could not dominate his Cameroonian opponent throughout the ten-round contest. This was indigestible to many boxing fans, who expected the big British man to show the new professional boxer why it was a bad idea to choose the best boxer in the world as his first opponent.

The judges’ scoring that allowed Tyson Fury to be the winner of the contest is still being discussed following the high-profile comments that claim Ngannou should have been the winner. What Ngannou gained from the faceoff, however, was being included among the WBC’s ten best heavyweights and earning eligibility to face any boxer in the heavyweight division. He has announced he would face no other boxer until he had a rematch with ‘The Gypsy King’.

During Ngannou’s days in the UFC, he was called the hardest puncher in the promotion, while Deontay Wilder was boxing. A crossover fight between Fury and Ngannou was to test out the power of bout, but in the process, Ngannou was walking into Fury’s comfort zone where he would have to use only fists instead of several other parts of the body during attacks and defence, as favoured by mixed martial artists.

Billy Joe Saunders believes Tyson Fury is the best puncher on the planet.

‘I don’t want people hyping Tyson up as the biggest heavyweight puncher. No, you’re the best boxer on the planet,’ he said.

‘Let’s not have someone say walk him down you’re too big, too strong. [Usyk] knows a little bit too much for that. Sit back and enjoy it, and 100% he will stop him as early as seven, eight, or nine.’

What Usyk lacks in size, he has in wits, speed, and fighting IQ. It might not be an easy fight for Tyson Fury.