Tyson Fury’s body transformation ahead of his undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk has left fans in disbelief.
The Gypsy King looks as ripped as ever with just under two months until his bout with the Ukrainian.
The heavyweight world will seek to elect a unified champion for the first time in 24 years on May 18, with a reported £100million purse up for grabs.
Boxing followers believe Fury is taking his fight with Usyk much more seriously after he scraped through his fight with Francis Ngannou, winning via split decision after being knocked down.
His long-time sparring partner Martin Bakole claimed that Fury didn’t prepare properly for his fight with Ngannou, telling IFL TV: ‘Tyson was not 100 per cent focused in the gym.’
Video: Tyson Fury on the pads today ahead of his fight vs Oleksandr Usyk on May 18th…
Usyk himself suggested that Fury didn’t take the fight seriously, asking: ‘Was he playing around trying to fool me?’
However, Fury appears to have stepped up the intensity of his training and posted a video at the weekend promising that he would ‘f***ing batter’ his undefeated opponent.
In an exclusive chat with Mail Sport last year, Fury said: ‘I would love to have a good body. But, I don’t have any hope of having a good body.
‘I am fat now, I was fat as a baby and I will be fat on my death bed. We’re all fat. Hughie is fat, Shane’s fat, my dad’s fat and even my mum’s fat. I hope she’s not watching this. But, we’re a fat family.’
The Brit doesn’t appear to have even a spare ounce on his muscular physique and fans have been left amazed by his transformation.
‘Tyson looks hungrier than ever to prove himself after that Ngannou fight. We’re about to see another historic Fury performance,’ one wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Never seen Tyson that cut,’ said another.
‘That doesn’t even look like the same person,’ one said, adding a shocked face emoji for emphasis.
Video: Training camp has started for Tyson Fury 🥊
‘Tyson Fury over here looking like The Rock,’ another commented.
‘It’s obvious he didn’t take Ngannou seriously,’ one said after seeing his transfromation.
‘Ngannou actually knocked sense into him,’ another wrote.
The clash between Usyk and Fury promises to be one of the biggest in memory.
Usyk will bring the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles while Fury holds the WBC heavyweight crown – and there will be a new ‘undisupted’ belt up for grabs.
They will meet in the ring as part of Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
Fury has been chomping at the bit since the fight was postponed from its original date of February 17 after he suffered a nasty cut above his eye in training.
He has 34 wins – 24 via knockouts – and one draw on his ledger.
Meanwhile, Usyk has a perfect record of 21 wins and no defeats with 14 knockouts.
However, Anthony Joshua’s seamless triumph over Ngannou has caused some to question Fury’s credentials.
AJ floored Ngannou three times with a second-round knockout when they met earlier this month, while Fury hit the deck himself before only beating the former UFC champion on points last year.
Eddie Hearn has revealed that Joshua and Fury could sign a two-fight deal to finally face each other, with one of the bouts potentially taking place at Wembley Stadium.
A win for Fury over Usyk could set up a fight against Joshua, but fans have become concerned that the pair may not meet on British soil due to Saudi powerbroker Turki Alalshikh being able to offer boxers lucrative money to fight in the Middle East.
However, Joshua’s promoter Hearn has raised hopes that his charge and Fury could meet in the UK, and even claimed that is something Alalshikh is exploring.
‘This is a gentleman called Turki Alalshikh, who is obviously a very influential figure in sports and entertainment in Saudi Arabia,’ Hearn said on The Sports Agents podcast.
‘He’s also the biggest fight fan I’ve ever met. And quite amazingly, he’s now talking about staging two Fury vs AJ fights – one in Saudi Arabia and one at Wembley Stadium.’
