Terence Crawford prototypes are few and far between, which means Canelo Alvarez can only try to find fellow fighters who can mimic the prolific switch-hitting style that he will present when they meet Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Netflix.
Topping the list of the undisputed super middleweight champion’s sparring partners for this camp has been former unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis and undefeated Cuban middleweight knockout artist Yoenli Hernandez.
“Sparring is very important to get ready for a fight. Obviously, they need to be as good as my opponent,” Alvarez said on Netflix’s two-part countdown program documenting the buildup to the fight.
“I enjoy sparring the most. I can spar every day, but [coach Eddy Reynoso] doesn’t like it. … [Crawford is] a really good fighter, and this is a challenge for me. It’s different. We need to spar with both southpaws and right-handers.
“Everybody has issues with that kind of style. But I’m working for that. And I have the experience to face every style now. I’m different. I have everything to lose because he is coming up two weight classes. But I always like to challenge myself.”
Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) is undefeated against the seven southpaws he’s faced over his last 56 professional fights. But he’s fought just two of them in the last 10 years.
The last time Alvarez faced a lefty was when he dropped, bloodied and bruised John Ryder en route to a unanimous decision during a homecoming fight in Mexico in 2023. Alvarez’s other wins against southpaws during that stretch have come against Billy Joe Saunders (RTD 8), James Kirkland (KO 3), Erislandy Lara (SD 12), Austin Trout (UD 12), Ryan Rhodes (TKO 12) and Ricardo Cano (UD 12).
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), who called himself the “best switch hitter ever” during the buildup of the bout, can certainly make things uncomfortable for Alvarez despite being undersized.
“Terence Crawford is one of the best fighters. But me, too. That’s why I took this fight. You can see the magnitude of the fight,” Alvarez said. “He doesn’t have the confidence, he doesn’t have that 100% that he can do it. I’m going to do it. I am a winner. I’m going to win. I can feel it. …
“My style doesn’t change. I can do everything. I can box, I can go forward, I can counterpunch, I can do whatever I want. I think this fight is going to be one of the best fights in boxing history. Everything is involved — our legacies. It’s a big moment for boxing.”
Terence Crawford broke a 100-year-old record with a history-making world title win in 2014
Terence Crawford has made history numerous times over his career, but breaking a century-old record was one of his most impressive feats.
“Bud” will be aiming to make history against Canelo Alvarez on September 12, when he attempts to jump up to Super Middleweight to challenge the all-time great Mexican fighter in Las Vegas.
Crawford wants to become a five-weight champion, matching legends like Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Ray Leonard in this impressive feat.
This bout comes more than a decade after he demolished a 100-year-old record to become a hero in his hometown state.
Terence Crawford became the first Nebraskan to win a world championship in 100 years
Crawford’s 2014 win over Ricky Burns was not just the culmination of a lifetime of work to become world champion, but saw him achieve something nobody had done for the past century.
Bud challenged the reigning WBO Lightweight champion in the UK on March 1, 2014, with a 22-0 record, leading him to this title fight.
While he didn’t manage to knock “The Rickster” out, Crawford was dominant throughout the 12 rounds, silencing the British crowd to win a unanimous decision victory in Glasgow, Scotland.
While this was Crawford’s first fight outside the United States, the world title win broke a record much closer to home for the Nebraska native.
It had been 100 years since fellow Nebraskan Perry “Kid” Graves captured the Welterweight world title, knocking out Johnny Alberts in a Brooklyn brawl.
In the century since, nobody from the state had tasted world title gold until Crawford broke the record to become just the second man from Nebraska to win such a prestigious championship.
However, while impressive, it is not the only record Crawford has smashed throughout his career.
Terence Crawford made history as an undisputed champion in multiple weight classes
Crawford’s first world title was a crowning achievement for Bud, but he made more history as his career got better and better.
The undefeated fighter became the first male boxer to hold the Undisputed championship in not one, but two different weight classes.
He managed the feat at both Super Lightweight and Welterweight, the former coming in August 2017.
Crawford knocked out Julius Indongo after just three rounds to become the first-ever Undisputed Super Lightweight champion of the four-belt era, making history just three years after breaking Graves’ record.
He went one better in July 2023, unifying the WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF Welterweight belts with Crawford’s best win of his career, when he finished Errol Spence Jr in the ninth round of their superfight.
He will aim to add a third undisputed record to his name by beating Canelo Alvarez later this month, cementing himself as one of the best fighters of all time.
Floyd Mayweather accused of explosive $4 million FaceTime scam with Elon Musk
Floyd Mayweather Jr., the retired boxing star, has been accused of fraud in Miami, Florida. On Friday, September 6, 2025, court papers were filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court by businessman Jayson Winer. He claims Mayweather promised him FaceTime calls with Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk but never made them happen. Winer says he lost cash and luxury watches in the deal. The lawsuit also names Mayweather’s real estate partner Jona Rechnitz. Winer is asking for a jury trial and damages.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Jona Rechnitz accused of fake Elon Musk deals
According to the lawsuit, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Jona Rechnitz offered access to Elon Musk in exchange for huge payments. This started in early 2025 in Miami. At first, Winer says he was told he could meet Musk on FaceTime for $4 million. He refused. Later, Mayweather’s team suggested that for $1 million, Mayweather would text Musk directly. Winer agreed, but says no message was ever sent.
Court papers say Winer was then offered a video call with Musk. For that, he handed over two designer watches worth $160,000 and $20,000 in cash. A man claiming to be Mayweather’s security guard came to Winer’s Miami home to collect the items. Winer says the call never happened and the screenshot he was shown as “proof” was fake.
Winer, who works as a digital artist under the name Mr. Black, says he felt targeted. His X (formerly Twitter) account had been “shadow banned” while he tried to sell 21,000 digital artworks in one week. He claims Mayweather and Rechnitz preyed on his desperation. In his words, the scam left him “cheated” and “humiliated.”
Jona Rechnitz’s past and Mayweather’s friendship
Jona Rechnitz, 42, has a long record of legal trouble. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud in New York. He later worked as a cooperating witness in corruption cases.
Despite that past, Mayweather has continued to do business with him. When asked about Rechnitz’s record, Mayweather said: “Jona is my friend. Whatever his case was, he dealt with it like a man, and we’re going to continue to do business.”
Court filings also mention Mayweather’s close friendship with Musk. Mayweather once claimed he trained Musk for a possible cage fight against Mark Zuckerberg in 2023. That fight never happened, but Mayweather later called Musk “my guy.”
In April 2025, a Miami judge ordered Winer to stop sending harassing messages about Rechnitz online for 15 days. Elon Musk has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Court records note there is no evidence he knew of Mayweather’s promises. Mayweather, Rechnitz, and Musk have been contacted for comment.
Oleksandr Usyk is edging towards the end of what has been a remarkable career in boxing.
The Ukrainian southpaw is 38-years-old and in just 24 professional fights has pretty much completed the sport. After turning over following his Olympic gold medal, he cleaned out the cruiserweight division to become undisputed, then moved up to heavyweight.
Usyk soon settled in with a win over Derek Chisora, and has since gone on an unbelievable run of wins, with two each over Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury.
That has made him an unprecedented two-time undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era, and he has never been down legitimately, nor ever really looked hurt.
Usyk has admitted he has only one or two fights left, and has so far shown little interest in one of those being his WBO mandatory challenger, Joseph Parker.
“Jake Paul and his team are playing boxing right now. Then we’ll see. I think next year we might play with them in MMA.”
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul has fought and beaten the likes of Mike Tyson and Julio César Chávez Jr. with one loss against Tommy Fury on his way to 12 wins from 13 fights in the squared circle.
Next up he takes on Gervonta Davis in November, but he has long chased a fight with Usyk, and it seems as though he could now get his man in the most unlikely of settings.
Terence Crawford Might Walk Away From The Super Middleweight Belts After Canelo
Terence Crawford says he’s coming for “those belts” in his fight against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez this Saturday night on Netflix from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) views the fight as “business.” He wants what Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) has got with his four titles. Interestingly, he’s not mentioned anything about defending them unless it involves a rematch with Canelo.
A Three-Division Quest
Winning those titles would make Crawford a three-division undisputed champion. He captured the undisputed championship previously at 147 and 140. He chose not to try to do the same at 154, likely due to the time involved with rounding up the three titles he needed. Canelo has made it convenient for Crawford by holding all four belts.
Without a rematch, Crawford will surely treat the belts in a catch-and-release type scenario, like fishing and letting the fish go. It’s too risky for him to hold onto the titles because the contenders are younger, bigger, and just as strong as Canelo.
If Crawford is ordered to defend against IBF mandatory Osleys Iglesias, it’s unrealistic to assume that he’ll make the defense.
“Canelo is big, but he’s not a massive fighter. He’s not 6’0″. He’s big, but he’s not this giant. So, picking Canelo was something that we looked deeply into at the time,” said Terence Crawford to Netflix about him not being concerned with the jump up in weight to fight Canelo Alvarez at 168.
Canelo’s Punching Power
It’s not the size of Canelo that Crawford has to be concerned with. It’s his punching power and his body attack. Alvarez hits harder than anyone Crawford has fought during his career, and he doesn’t have to load up to generate the power. We’ve seen Crawford hurt twice in his career against Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2014 and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
In Terence’s last fight against Israil Madrimov at 154 on August 3, 2024, he handled his power well without showing signs of being hurt. However, Madrimov wasn’t loading up on his punches in the fight. He was just reaching out to connect. Both of Crawford’s eyes were still puffed up from the shots he had been hit by from Israil.
“I think it’s going to be a tough fight. He’s going to bring the best out of me, and I’m going to bring the best out of him. It’s going to be an exciting fight,” said Crawford. “It’s business. I want what he got, and that’s them belts and that’s the undisputed title.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn states that he sees it as zero gain for Anthony Joshua in fighting the 20-year-old Moses Itauma.
He feels it’s a lose-lose situation, anyway you look at it. Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) is too young and inexperienced for the former two-division heavyweight champion Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) to receive any credit for beating him.
A GAINLESS PROPOSITION
On the other hand, if Joshua, 35, is beaten by Itauma, it would mean his career is “over” because he’s lost to a guy that hasn’t beaten anyone notable during his two-year pro or his entire amateur career. Itauma is being rushed to the top without fighting any of the good contenders. Fans are making a big deal about his recent first-round knockout victory over the faded British journeyman Dillian Whyte, but he wasn’t facing a quality top-tier heavyweight.
Itauma could lose to one or more of those fighters, and the hype would end abruptly about him being the next King of the division. At the very least, those heavyweights would age Itauma, wear him down, and leave him a less capable fighter than the one that rolled off the assembly line in 2023.
WEIGHING THE GAIN
“I don’t really look at the Moses fight and think that’s a fight for AJ,” promoter Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports about a fight between Anthony Joshua and Moses Itauma. “There are many reasons for that. One, what do you gain out of it?”
Joshua doesn’t come out ahead beating Itauma because he’s so inexperienced. Moses has essentially fought 13 tomato cans as a pro, and there’s a ton of artificial hype created based on those wins. The fans aren’t even waiting to see him in with a real heavyweight before they anoint him as the new King of the division.
There will be a lot of sour fans if Itauma is exposed when he gets in with a good fighter for the first time. It’ll teach fans a lesson not to buy into fake hype and be tricked by fool’s gold.
Itauma’s Flaws
Itauma lacks the amateur background for people to have an accurate gauge of whether he’s good or not. He didn’t fight the cream of the crop from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, and the United States when he was an amateur. The one decent fighter he fought, Stylianos Roulias of Greece, had him on the run all night, acting like he was being chased by an angry junkyard dog in their fight on November 23, 2022.
Roulias showed how to give Itauma problems by attacking him nonstop, landing hard, meaningful punches, and making him feel the pain. What that fight showed is that Itauma doesn’t like to get hit, and will do anything to avoid tasting leather.
THE ZERO-SUM GAME
“Moses is a very good fighter. If you win, you’ve beaten up a 20-year-old. If you lose, you’ve lost to a 20-year-old and your career’s over. It’s a dangerous fight. I rate Moses very highly,” said Hearn.
Joshua’s career would be seen as “over” by fans if he were to be blown out by the inexperienced Itauma. Losing to Daniel Dubois by a fifth-round knockout last September is already a signal to fans that AJ’s career is done. But if Itauma were to do something similar or worse, it would destroy Joshua’s credibility and marketability with fans.
Joshua’s popularity remains high, and he can make big money in fights against Jake Paul and Tyson Fury. If that’s his angle, the purses he would get fighting Paul and Fury would be extraordinary. Fighting Itauma, the money wouldn’t be the same because he hasn’t been around long enough to build a worldwide fanbase.
Fighting in the Trenches
“I think that Moses has a lot of work to do. He’s an extraordinary talent, but we have no idea if he can tick the boxes that are required to be a true great and a true champion in the division,” Hearn said. “What’s his chin like? What’s it like when it gets really tough in the trenches?” said Hearn.
Eddie brings up some good points. We don’t know how well Itauma will perform against quality heavyweights that are throwing back at him, forcing him into a grueling fight, and applying pressure. Dillian Whyte, 37, looked terrified, not throwing any meaningful punches in his defense before being knocked out in one round by Itauma in their headliner on August 16, 2025.
Other than Whyte, Itauma has fought no one notable. Although Moses is now ranked #1 by the WBA and WBO, his opposition has been of marginal quality all the way through his 13-fight professional career.
No Retirement, No Surrender: Turki Alalshikh’s Post-Canelo Plan For Terence Crawford
Turki Alalshikh told Terence Crawford on Saturday that he didn’t want him to retire following his big fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
ALALSHIKH’S CHALLENGE TO CRAWFORD
Fans believe that the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will hang up his gloves win or lose after his title challenge against the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs).
Turki has invested a lot of money in Crawford since last year, putting him in a position to become a three-time undisputed champion against the aging Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs). With the millions that Turki has invested in Crawford, one of his favorite fighters, he understandably doesn’t want to see him walk off into the sunset after Saturday’s fight.
While visiting Crawford at the training session at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas on September 6, 2025, Turki said, “deliver the job” against Canelo on September 13. “The job ain’t done yet. But listen, no retirement,” said Turki about wanting Terence to continue fighting after his super fight against Canelo.
Alalshikh clearly wants Crawford to defend the undisputed 168-pound championship two or three times if he’s victorious against Alvarez or return to 154 to attempt to become a four-division undisputed champion. That would be impressive if Crawford could accomplish that feat.
It would be a good idea for Canelo to ensure that he scores a knockout to avoid losing a decision to Crawford. The last thing Alvarez needs is to wind up getting outpointed by Crawford and having his legacy tarnished from the defeat. Getting beaten by Dmitry Bivol and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one thing, but it’s a lot worse if he loses to the smaller, older 37-year-old Crawford.
THE GAUNTLET AT 168
If Crawford does choose to follow Turki’s advice of continuing his career, he would be facing this gauntlet of fighters at 168 to make three defenses:
Christian Mbilli
Osley Iglesias
Diego Pacheco
Beating the hard-hitting Cuban southpaw Iglesias (14-0, 13 KOs) might be impossible for Crawford. Iglesias hits hard with either hand, and he’s young at 27. Turning southpaw won’t help Terence against Osley because that’s his stance. He’s a left-hander, and his reach is identical to Crawford’s at 74 inches. So, Bud can’t count on using his jab to dominate him like he’s done against short-armed fighters throughout his career.
Assuming Crawford does get through that gauntlet at 168, he will have accomplished a lot. That would make him a candidate for the all-time great list.
THE PATH TO ALL-TIME GREAT
The hard part for Crawford would be for him to return to the junior middleweight division to try to become a four-division undisputed champion. To accomplish that, Crawford would have to defeat these three champions:
Sebastian Fundora: WBC
Xander Zayas: WBO
Bakhram Murtazaliev: IBF
To beat all the champions at 154, Crawford can’t afford to take a year break between each fight. He would be in his early 40s by the time he faces the final champion in the weight class, and likely too old to become a four-division undisputed champion if he makes it that far.
Oleksandr Usyk has been granted a 90-day extension to negotiate his mandatory defence against Joseph Parker on medical grounds.
The Ukrainian was initially afforded more time due to a lingering back injury, but after a video emerged online of the undisputed heavyweight champion dancing, an investigation was launched.
The WBO demanded an updated medical prognosis from Team Usyk, and they were satisfied with the evidence they received.
A career after boxing beckons, for undisputed champ Oleksandr Usyk 🪩
If Usyk had been found to be unnecessarily delaying his mandatory obligation, then the WBO would have been within its rights to strip him of his red and gold strap.
However, the 38-year-old will remain WBO heavyweight champion while Parker squares off against Fabio Wardley on October 25 in London.
“Team Usyk’s petition for a 90-day extension is granted on medical grounds,” read a letter addressed to Usyk and Parker’s respective teams from the Chairman of the WBO Championship Committee, Luis Batista Salas.
“The 90-day extension shall have a retroactive effect from the date of submission, August 9, 2025.
“Mr. Joseph Parker, Interim Heavyweight Champion, is authorized to defend his interim title against a suitable opponent approved by this Committee, during the extension period.
“Mr. Oleksandr Usyk shall be mandated to face next the WBO Interim Heavyweight Champion; no intervening bouts will be allowed.
“Failure by Mr. Usyk to comply with this mandate shall trigger this Committee’s intervention to proceed accordingly.
“This Resolution is final, definitive, and enforceable.”
Wardley recently got his hands on the WBA interim title after a stunning come-from-behind knockout win over Justis Huni.
📢 WBO Resolution – Heavyweight Division
✔️ Usyk granted a 90-day medical extension ✔️ Parker allowed to defend interim title ✔️ Usyk must face the Interim Champ next pic.twitter.com/bjJX6MfWON
He now has the opportunity to jump the queue and land a four-belt shootout with Usyk by snatching the WBO’s version of the interim strap from Parker at the O2 Arena.
It will be no easy task, with Parker currently riding a rich vein of form.
The Kiwi rebounded from a stoppage loss to Joe Joyce in September 2022 to string together a six-fight winning streak.
His last three victories have been particularly impressive, with Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole all falling at his hands over the past 21 months.
Parker had been scheduled to challenge Daniel Dubois for the IBF world title in February.
However, the fight collapsed after Dubois fell ill.
The Auckland technician is now one win away from challenging for that belt, plus three more (WBO, WBA and WBC) against Usyk.
Explosive: Crawford Finally Answers If He Could Take Down Mayweather or Tyson
Terence Crawford, who has a mega fight coming up against Canelo Alvarez on September 13, has now revealed how he’d have fared against Floyd Mayweather or Mike Tyson.
‘Bud’ looks ready for his super middleweight fight, and with a win against Canelo, he can become the first ever three division men’s undisputed champion.
Ahead of the fight, Crawford appeared for an interview on the Full Send podcast. When asked, Crawford gave a clear-cut answer on how he’d have fared against Mayweather or Mike Tyson if ‘Iron’ Mike were his size.
Interestingly, Mike Tyson vs Floyd Mayweather has been announced for a 2026 exhibition fight.
Crawford is backing himself all the way, be it against Mayweather or Tyson. Speaking to the Full Send, he said, “Me. No questions. Why would you think that I would say Floyd?”
Crawford added, “If Mike Tyson was my size, stylistically, I would beat him easy. And Mike Tyson, you know what I mean, is well respected. But my size, Mike Tyson, I think Mike Tyson beat those guys because, you know, he was faster and more explosive than those guys, those heavyweight guys. When you look at Mike Tyson back in the day, he was ferocious. You know, this is speed and.”
Crawford is one of the most accomplished boxers in history. Like Mayweather, he is undefeated (41-0-0, 31 KOs). He is now looking to add to his legacy in the upcoming fight against Canelo. A win against Canelo would put Crawford right up there as one of the best to ever do it.
That said, it won’t be as straight forward.
Dana White, as part of the TKO Group, is promoting Canelo vs Crawford. ‘Bud’ thinks it’s good for boxing and expects to see more UFC crossover moving forward. While this is White’s first ever boxing event, Crawford reckons the UFC CEO promoter’s background would help him fit right in.
He said, “This his first time promoting uh a boxing event, but Dana is a great promoter as as we all have seen in the years uh before us.”
White added, “I think it’s it’s it’s a good thing. You know, you seen a lot of crossover between UFC and boxing and things like that. And I think if we all can collectively support one another in UFC boxing, we can make combat sports bigger than it ever been.”
Tyson Fury Warns Rival: “There’s a Dangerous Breed of Fighter Who Never Accepts Defeat”
To be a fighter, you have to have a little screw loose,” Tyson Fury says calmly in a chaotic room in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he will soon step back into the ring. His entourage are kicking up a racket but Fury is much more reflective. “Who on earth would want to go and fight against a highly trained athlete, time and time again? You have to be a little bit touched to want to do that.”
On Saturday night, Fury faces Francis Ngannou in a bout which could be the sporting definition of absurdity. Fury is the WBC world heavyweight champion and an indisputably great boxer. Ngannou, in contrast, has never boxed professionally even though he was a dangerous force in mixed martial arts as the former UFC heavyweight champion. So much money has been pumped into this dubious venture that Fury and Ngannou could be lauded as supreme businessmen were it not for the deeply troubling nature of boxing’s sudden veneration for Saudi Arabia.
“My oldest brother, John Boy,” Fury continues, “said to me yesterday: ‘You’re more at home in that ring than your front room. Why is that?’”
Fury wears wildly patterned green trousers and a fawn-coloured waistcoat. He is shirtless and he pushes back his green cap as he tries to explain his strange obsession. “I just love everything that comes with this game. From a little boy to being a world champion, it’s always intrigued me. I don’t think there’s anything else where you can get all these emotions in one night. Happiness, sadness, fear, nerves, excitement. Going in there on Saturday night will be, for me, as daunting as going up against Deontay Wilder.”
His epic trilogy with Wilder saw him draw their first fight and win the two other bouts with brutal stoppages. But Fury was knocked down heavily four times across the three fights and, as he says now, “I give every man that gets in that ring 100% respect. But this is my time to shine, my time in the sun, my moment of being heavyweight champion of the world.”
I remind Fury of how, after the third Wilder fight, he leaned over the ropes and wept from the consuming and savage drama of it all. “There are two different types of fighters on this planet,” the 6ft 9in giant says quietly. “One is a man who has a go and he loses, gets chinned again. But there’s a special type that doesn’t know the meaning of losing or saying: ‘That’s enough.’”
The unbeaten Fury nods intently. “That’s me. It takes a lot of emotion, guts, physicality, spirituality, to keep going even when you’ve been knocked down twice, like I was in round four. Every time he hit me clean I was getting hurt. I looked at my brother and I was like: ‘This is not over. I’m getting him, 100%.’ Then, round 11, bang! Chinned him. Get up from that. That’s my favourite knockout because I knew it was a perfect shot. I ran away and jumped on the ropes, looking at him on the floor.”
The big man is thoughtful when I ask about the times he has been hit so hard that, as against Wilder in 2018, he was actually unconscious before he struck the canvas. Incredibly, Fury still got up before the count reached 10. “Against real punchers like Wilder you don’t feel the power. You wake up on the floor and then, if you’re lucky enough, you open your eyes as [the referee] says: ‘Four, five.
“I remember the referee looked at me like he’s an alien and he said, in an alien voice: ‘Are you OK?’ I was like: “Yeah! C’mon, let’s go!’ But obviously I didn’t know what had hit me. It was a crazy experience, all of it, and if I’m not a blessed man, I don’t know who is. I don’t know anyone who’s been knocked out cold, got up and got stuck right into him.”
Saturday night will be very different. It feels like a charade of a fight as Ngannou is a boxing novice whom Fury should beat with ease. “I hope you’re right,” Fury cackles. “I’m intent on punishing him for a while, enjoying it, putting on a show, then bang! Chinning him. He might be tough as a brick. He’s never been stopped. But he’s never been hit by a proper puncher before. There’s MMA punching and boxing punching. It’s different.”
I’m far more interested in Fury’s next bout, again in Riyadh, when he faces Oleksandr Usyk, the IBF, WBA and WBO champion on 23 December. The winner will become the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis held all the belts in 1999. “It’s the fight of the century,” Fury says. “So it’s obviously a meaningful fight.”
Usyk is also a masterful boxer. “Is he?” Fury asks me evenly. “Is he any better than the rest of these people? I’m not sure he is. He had a 50-50 fight with Del Boy [Derek Chisora]. Even Daniel Dubois had a lot of success against him. Without being rude to those guys, they’re little more than a heavy bag on legs walking forward. Even AJ [Anthony Joshua who has lost twice to Usyk] had a lot of opportunity and he didn’t do anything. Just walked forward with his hands up around his head, terrified of what’s coming back and didn’t use his advantages. Do you really think, after all these years of knowing me, I’m going to be happy to lose on points against a guy like that? Oh my God. Please.”
This is typical Fury – a showman capable of describing the “daunting” challenge of facing a man who has never boxed before and then trashing an outstanding and brave champion in Usyk. He has already gone into amusing detail about his daily routine at home: “I wake up every morning at 6am, having gone to bed at 9pm. From the moment I wake to the moment I close my eyes, I’m busy. It’s not stuff you think the heavyweight champion of the world will be busy with. But it’s Groundhog Day and keeps me very grounded.”
Fury lists his schedule of tasks – showering, shaving, dressing and feeding the kids, taking them to school, getting down on his hands and knees to collect everything that the dogs have shredded overnight, picking up teddy bears and cushions before going to the tip to dump the rubbish his seven children have collected. “I go to the tip four times a week. It’s like a second home to me. Then I’ve got to feed the dogs, pay the bills, gas, water, electric, council tax. I’m in charge of it all. Then I go to the gym at 4pm every day.”
As a way of cutting down his chores, Fury recently sold more than a hundred properties in the north-west. “Too much headache,” he says, “although the rents are good. Imagine dealing with your own family’s problems. Times that by a hundred. ‘This is broken, that’s not working, this needs fixing.’”
And so Fury will remain locked inside boxing. He suggests that he won’t box anywhere apart from Saudi Arabia as he has signed a rumoured contract for three or four fights worth £200m. Fury insists again that the one that really matters, against Usyk, is a certain victory.
“He won’t be able to move away from me in a 20ft ring. He might run away, but I’ll chase him down. I’ve got fast feet and I will hit him and hit him. I’ll stop him. I guarantee it.”
Fury grins again, looking less like a madman than a world champion who is utterly at home in the circus of boxing.
