Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is not expecting a competitive fight when WBC champion Tyson Fury collides with Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou, a former UFC champion, will face Fury in a non-title fight on October 28 in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk has been highly critical of Fury’s decision to go in this direction.
“I think it’s easy money for Tyson Fury,” Usyk said to BBC Sport. “I think for me it looks a little bit strange, to me, too strange.
“A guy who is WBC heavyweight champion instead of fighting a guy from the top 10, suddenly chooses the guy as his opponent coming from the UFC. For Ngannou, this is cool. But for Tyson Fury, it isn’t. Your perception and my perception are different. You treat it like show, I treat it as an athlete. If he chooses this way, OK I respect his choice.”
In the early part of the year, Fury and Usyk were in serious negotiations to fight each other. Their discussions fell apart when they were unable to agree on financial terms for the rematch.
Usyk is now scheduled to make a mandatory defense of his IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world titles against Daniel Dubois on Saturday night in Poland.
While Usyk is nearly 37-years-old, he doesn’t view this stage of his career as being the final leg of the journey.
“No, it is not the final point,” Usyk said. “I am 36, but this is just the beginning. I started boxing at the age of 15. It’s just the beginning now.
“I do realize there are not many years left for me in boxing and I don’t want to spend much time in boxing. I want to take my kids to school and whatever.”