22 October 2023 , 07:00
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Tyson Fury insists he’ll not make the same mistake against Francis Ngannou that Anthony Joshua made against Andy Ruiz.
The Gypsy King is set to put his WBC world heavyweight title on the line against WBA, WBO and IBF champ Oleksandr Usyk — potentially as early as December — to sort out who is the division’s undisputed top dog. But that’s only providing he comes through Saturday’s clash with Ngannou in Saudi Arabia unscathed, because he knows only too well from AJ’s experience that boxing rings are littered with banana skins.
Fury said: “I am not looking past Ngannou. I don’t look ahead to other fights or get involved in boxing politics. When you count your chickens before they hatch you usually come unstuck. I remember a few years ago, when Anthony Joshua was in New York to box a little unknown called Andy Ruiz, all he could talk about was fighting Deontay Wilder and me.
“He didn’t concentrate on the little fat fella in front of him and ended up getting wiped out. I don’t do stuff like that. I don’t care if Usyk is ringside, I am only looking forward to a good fight with Francis Ngannou. Whether it is easy or hard I will be prepared for it, but I won’t be taking my eye off of it, especially not for some middleweight guy when I have a giant in front of me.”
Fury, already a very wealthy man, is making some serious lolly from the Saudis for his next two fights, and he has also trousered a fair few quid from his Netflix show. But he is adamant that at this stage it isn’t about the money. He added: “I just do my job, get paid and get out of there. In the trade we call it ‘getting paid and getting laid’.
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“But even if someone gave me £10trillion it wouldn’t affect my lifestyle. I can’t do anything more than I can do. Where I live in Morecambe, if you had £100tn, you couldn’t do anything different to what I do. I’m just not interested in anything other than what I’m doing. “People have seen that in the Netflix documentary — that’s my life down to a T. And I’m fortunate enough that sometimes I get a fight scheduled in and I go into a training camp and it gets a bit glitzy, but other than that it’s very structured and routined.”
Fury needs that structure. He said: “It’s just the same old bulls**t day in, day out, year in, year out, but if you take it away my life’s not worth living anymore. I’m sick when I’m in camp and even sicker when I’m out of camp so make what you will of that.” But he’s also trying to enjoy each camp now given there won’t be many left.
He added: “I know there will be a time when training camps are no more and I won’t get to enjoy the banter with all my training partners and mates and employees. In 10 years, I want to be able to look back on these camps and remember them fondly because time passes so quickly. I made a vow to myself a few years ago to enjoy every camp and every sparring session because I am 35, so there are not many more to come.”
Fury v Ngannou will be exclusively live from Riyadh Season, Saudi Arabia on TNT Sports Box Office, Saturday, October 28. For more info: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice