Carl Froch believes that the one-sided nature of Anthony Joshua’s victory over Francis Ngannou shows the extent of Tyson Fury‘s decline.
Joshua, 34, on Friday evening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, stopped Ngannou in two rounds that demonstrated how ill-suited the former UFC heavyweight champion is to professional boxing.
Ngannou, 37, earned his fight with the world’s second-highest-profile heavyweight off the strength of his unexpectedly close 10-round fight with Fury in October, when the underprepared Fury was knocked down before escaping with a narrow decision.
Fury, 35, is scheduled to finally fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title May 18, in Riyadh. Because of the deterioration Froch believes he has seen in Fury’s abilities, the retired former super middleweight champion turned analyst expects Usyk to win.
On Monday in central London, Froch was the guest of honor at a lunch hosted by the Boxing Writers Club in acknowledgement of his Hall of Fame career. He was, as always, unreluctant to share his opinions.
“Fury must have just been having a really bad night – or, like I think, Fury’s past his best,” Froch said. “He’s seen better days.
“I study the sport and I study the fights, and Tyson Fury used to throw 30-plus feints a round. Feint, feint. Draw his opponent in, feint. Double jab, right hand. He’s not doing the feints anymore. He’s doing four or five feints. He’s slow on his feet. He’s been knocked down five times [in recent years]. When you’re hitting the floor and getting hit on the chin and not throwing feints and not as busy as you used to be, that means you’re past your best and you’re on the decline and you’re on the slide.
“I don’t think the Usyk fight happens,” Froch continued. “If it does, [Fury] must love the pound note, because he’s got enough money. He don’t need to fight. If he fights Usyk, he’ll get beat – unless I’m totally wrong and Fury’s just not taking the sport seriously.
“When I watched that Netflix series – he’s up and down mentally. If he takes it seriously and he fancies it and he’s happy and on a high, he trains properly. You might see the last, best Tyson Fury. He might get in there with Usyk and be too big for him and too quick, and beat him and dominate him, and then I hope he retires.
“But, one, I don’t think the fight will happen. Two, if it happens, I think – unless he rekindles the old flame – he’s going to get easily beat. I don’t think it’ll be a knockout or anything like that. I just think it’ll be a points job, or maybe a late stoppage, because Usyk is a lot smaller than him, and a bit lighter. But he’s growing into the weight now. But he’s an old man himself. He’s past his best.”
Joshua is expected to challenge the winner of the two-fight series between Fury and Usyk, 37.
“In the next two or three years, there’s going to be no Fury, no AJ, no Usyk,” Froch said. “They’re all going to be gone, and then you’ll have Daniel Dubois and a guy called Jared Anderson in America who’s coming through.“There’s going to be some new heavyweights coming through. Joe Joyce will be gone. He should retire anyway, Joyce.”