Carl Frampton discusses the heavyweights
Two-weight World Champion Carl Frampton has told William Hill’s podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan, that since beating Deontay Wilder, the quality of the fights that Tyson Fury has fought in haven’t been good enough for a lineal World Champion.
Featuring on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, a podcast hosted by the former Crystal Palace owner who speaks to sports stars and celebrities and challenges their opinions whilst scrutinising their careers, Frampton saidTyson Fury’ recent string of fights isn’t good enough for lineal Heavyweight World Champion; as well as also reviewing the low blow in the Usyk-Dubois fight, and a brief preview of AJ-Wilder.
Fury a strong favourite to beat Usyk
Jordan asked Frampton for his view on the proposed heavyweight clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, and the Northern Irishman was firmly in the former’s camp.
“Fury is a strong favourite in that fight for me,” Frampton said. “After watching [Oleksandr] Usyk’s performance against Daniel Dubois, although it was one sided, it looks like he can be hurt to the body. Fury is just too good and I think that monstrous frame will be too much.
“Tyson used to move around on his toes and do things that are unnatural for someone with their belly hanging out over their shorts. He’d move around like a featherweight and I have this theory that the new style of Tyson Fury is because he has to fight like that.
“He has to come forward and he has to be aggressive these days because his knees and ankles aren’t up to it anymore. It’s a more exciting Fury the one we’ve got now, and one that we should be excited about.”
He added his honest opinions on Fury’s latest fights, “I understand the criticism thrown at guys like Fury. After he had his trilogy with Deontay Wilder, he went up against Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora and is about to fight Francis Ngannou. That string of fights isn’t good enough for lineal Heavyweight World Champion.
“I can understand why he is fighting Ngannou. Who would turn do $30million to fight someone who is making their boxing debut? You can’t and as long as the fights after that are legitimate, then we can all be happy.”
Dubois’ low blow
Frampton then spoke about the controversial fight between Daniel Dubois and Oleksandr Usyk, and reaffirmed his belief that the alleged low blow from Dubois was a legal shot.
“I still think the punch was fair,” said Frampton. “Usyk used his wisdom and experience and he knew that he would get away it. He knew the referee would give him time to recover if he milked it a bit, but I was annoyed at Daniel [Dubois] for not putting his foot on the pedal and going in for the kill.
“Daniel has the ability and punching power to be a World Champion, but he doesn’t have the mental ability to do it and that’s what he needs to sort out.”
Old AJ has a chance against likes of Wilder
The Northern Irishman was also asked for his thoughts on Anthony Joshua, and with an alleged fight against Deontay Wilder on the agenda, Frampton believes Joshua only stands a chance if adopts a more aggressive style of fighting.
Frampton added: “I sort of feel sorry for Anthony Joshua and I probably shouldn’t given he’s an Olympic champion and multi-millionaire. He gets so much criticism and I think he’s caught between two styles and he isn’t sure which one to use in his fights.
“If he can reignite that fire like he did before, I don’t see why he can’t now. If AJ wants to beat someone like [Deontay] Wilder then I think he has to be a bit more like the old AJ and have a go. I think if he tries to stand off and tries to box, I think he might get knocked out.”
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