MIKE TYSON slammed Tyson Fury for “playing around” against Oleksandr Usyk – but backed him ahead of the rematch.
Fury lost his WBC title and undefeated record in May after losing a classic 12-round points decision to Usyk.
The Gypsy King himself blamed too much showmanship in the early stages of the fight for causing his downfall.
And Tyson told talkSPORT: “Hey, listen, Usyk surprised everybody.
“I think Tyson Fury played around too much, I think he needs to be taking this fight seriously and hopefully we get a different result to last time.”
Usyk, 37, became the heavyweight division’s first four-belt undisputed champion after defeating Fury, 36, in Saudi Arabia.
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But he was forced to vacate the IBF title in order to proceed with their December 21 rematch in Riyadh.
Fury argued he deserved the decision on the night and plans to knock out Usyk in the rematch to avoid drama on the scorecards.
He said: “There’s no secret, I’m going in there to knock you out. Because I don’t think I’m going to get a decision no matter what I do.
“I don’t think I’m going to get a boxing decision, so I’m going to have to take it out of the judges’ hands like I did in America that time [against Deontay Wilder].
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“And I’ve got to get him out of there. Hand on heart, I have to get him out of there to see victory.”
Fury drew with Wilder in 2018 after twice being floored but won the subsequent rematches by stoppage.
And he added: “I needed to get Wilder out of there or he got me out of there and that’s the type of fight it had to be.
“It had to be a 50/50 gunsling with the biggest puncher in history or else he’d have chinned me in round nine.
“Going into the rematch with Usyk, it’s going to be the same.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
