OLEKSANDR USYK is putting himself through “serious sparring” with a giant 6ft 8in heavyweight in preparation to fight Tyson Fury.
Usyk and Fury unify all four world title belts – a first in heavyweight history – on February 17 in Saudi Arabia.
And the unbeaten Ukrainian has called upon the services of 6ft 8½ins Serbian Sanel Hasanovic, who has a 7-1-1 record with six knockouts.
Hasanovic posted on Instagram: “@Usykaa, after some serious sparring, I believe you will emerge victorious in the fight against Tyson Fury!
“Also, thanks to my team @KUCBoxingPromotion for the support and promotion!”
Usyk also drafted in 5-1 Kazakh Nursultan Amanzholov to help replicate Fury’s 6ft 9in frame.
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The ex-undisputed cruiserweight king was left baffled after seeing pictures of Fury living it up on a family holiday in Saudi before Christmas.
But the Gypsy King, 35, has since got serious and brought in a host of slick southpaws to best mimic Usyk, 36.
That includes 19-year-old prospect Moses Itauma, 7-0 Irishman Thomas Carty and potentially world champ Jai Opetaia to come.
It comes after a Team Usyk insider blasted Fury’s warm-weather vacation after the historic unification was announced.
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They said in December: “While Tyson Fury is enjoying his break in Saudi Arabia, which we saw The Sun write about, we are working hard on fight preparation.
“We already have over 50 candidates for sparring who responded to our call and met the criteria.
“Three of them are signed up as the sparring partners for Oleksandr.
“Unfortunately I can’t reveal their names now, the team is very careful with the information from the camp.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
