George Groves has claimed Tyson Fury confronted him backstage after he said Oleksandr Usyk would win their fight next month.
The Gypsy King will meet the Ukrainian in the ring on February 17, with the eyes of the world set to be on Saudi Arabia.
Fury is confident he’ll win that bout, despite labouring to victory over Francis Ngannou last time out.
Usyk won’t be straightforward, however, with the 37-year-old winning all 21 of his career fights so far.
Tyson Fury was unhappy with George Groves’ prediction for his boxing fight with Oleksandr Usyk
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And Groves has now revealed Fury once confronted him backstage after he expressed a belief that Usyk would emerge victorious.
“I think Usyk wins, I think he’s in better form,” the 35-year-old told Grosvenor Sport.
“I know people are attacking him a bit for the Dubois performance but I thought he was very, very good.
“Usyk was in full control and stopped him. Usyk will take Fury out of his comfort zone, Fury’s a big unit and he carries a lot of weight and if Usyk makes him work harder than he used to then it’s going to be a tough night for him.
“Usyk builds into a fight and each round he cranks it up. I think he’s in better form, I’m going against the natural size of Fury, and I’m picking Usyk.
“I think he wins quite comfortably.
“Fury pulled me backstage once and he said ‘hey, why are you picking Usyk to win’ and I said ‘Tyson, someone’s got to pick him’.”
Another big fight that’s creeping closer is between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou.
Joshua will enter that fight as the favourite given all his years of boxing experience.
However, Ngannou will still be tricky having pushed Fury all the way during their showdown in October.
And Groves thinks that, if Joshua loses, his boxing career will be in tatters.
“Ngannou hasn’t been boxing long, how can he defeat an Olympic champion who went on to win multiple world titles?” he said.
“AJ’s not past his best, he’s not on the way out.
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George Groves is expecting Oleksandr Usyk to beat Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia next month
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“He looked flat at the start of last year but he looked a real force against Wallin. So I hope he puts it on Ngannou and doesn’t put safety first.
“I hope he comes out hungry to make a statement, I think AJ can knock Ngannou out.
“I think he needs to win and win well. And if he doesn’t, we need to stop caring about the heavyweight division, it would be a farce.
“It would not happen in any other sport. You wouldn’t get Conor McGregor getting anywhere near anyone in the top ten in boxing. Joshua should easily out box him.
“Joshua has got it all to lose, a loss for Joshua would be curtains.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will lock horns on February 17 with millions from all over the world poised to tune in
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“His last defeat was against Oleksandr Usyk, who I think is a phenomenal fighter, whereas this time around, if he loses to Ngannou, a guy in his second fight, that’s going to be a disaster.
“There will be a question mark over his career and legacy, especially because he’s not a faded fighter, he’s not shot, it’s not like Ngannou will be catching Joshua as the tail end of his career.
“AJ put in a really good performance against Wallin but if he’s beaten by Ngannou that’s a nightmare. It’s a big pressure fight.”
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