Tyson Fury's father John Fury has predicted Anthony Joshua will 'walk straight through' Oleksandr Usyk when they fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London on September 25.
With just over two months to go until two of the world's biggest boxing superstars clash in the ring, 'Big' John Fury has made a bold prediction of how the fight between 'AJ' and Usyk will play out.
In an exclusive interview with Andi Purewal for Boxing Social, Fury insisted Usyk is a 'world-class cruiserweight', but he wonders if the Ukrainian will have the power to gain the respect of his British rival.
He told Boxing Social: “Usyk is good, he’s a world-class cruiserweight, he’s proved it.
"But AJ is a big dude and he’s got a good array of boxing skills and he’s a big strong man. I just think he’s all round too good for Usyk.
“Usyk won’t be able to hit hard enough to bother him because he’s too small. He’ll walk straight through.
"I think AJ will stop him quicker than anybody else. I think AJ will walk straight through him. I do.
“One’s a cruiserweight, one’s bulking up. And if he bulks up to try and meet him head-on, forget about it.
"That’s why there’s weight classes, ain’t they? A good big one will always beat a good little one and AJ is a good big one.”
However, Top Rank boxing supremo Bob Arum, who co-promotes 'The Gypsy King', expects Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) to have his hands full when he steps into the ring with Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) and told iFL TV that he gives Usyk 'a hell of a chance to beat Joshua in that fight.'
Like his father, Fury also feels Joshua will have too much for Usyk, as he referenced Usyk's struggles against Derek Chisora, who challenged Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight title in February 2012.
“I don’t believe Usyk is a heavyweight for one. I think he’s a pumped-up cruiserweight who struggles with heavyweights," he told Seconds Out.
“In my opinion, Derek Chisora beat Oleksandr Usyk – he certainly struggled with Derek Chisora and Joshua is a much bigger, stronger man than Derek.
“I think he walks straight through Usyk. People are trying to build it up as a scary fight but he didn’t have the power to halt cruiserweights like Mairis Briedis or whoever else he fought."