According to heavyweight contender Martin Bakole, WBC world champion Tyson Fury was not exactly training at full speed for last October’s crossover boxing match with Francis Ngannou.
In what was expected to play out as an easy assignment, Fury was dropped in the third round and then fought Ngannou on even terms for the remainder of the fight.
Ngannou, a former UFC champion, was making his pro debut. Fury came away with a close ten round split decision win.
The performance has earned Ngannou another big payday, as he faces former two-time champion Anthony Joshua on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bakole, who saw action on the Fury-Ngannou undercard, has often been used as a sparring partner by Fury and he was far from surprised that Ngannou did well in the contest.
He felt Fury was took his foot off the gas in camp and may have been distracted by the finalized deal to fight Oleksandr Usyk in a high-stake undisputed fight on February 17.
“To be honest, I was in Tyson Fury’s camp. If you watch my interview at the event when people are asking me, I was saying I will not be surprised to see Ngannou drop Tyson Fury, because, to be honest, Tyson was not 100 percent focused in the gym. For me, my opinion is the signed contract with Usyk affected his mind for the Ngannou fight,” Bakole told IFL TV.
“I’ve never seen Tyson training like that. He was doing four rounds, six rounds in the gym for sparring. Maybe he’s watching this and knows he wasn’t 100 percent focused. That’s not the Tyson Fury I know when he was preparing for [Wladimir] Klitschko, [Derek[ Chisora, and Dillian Whyte. This was different.”