John Fury has come under repeated criticism for his role in son Tyson’s defeat by Oleksandr Usyk in their undisputed fight in May
Tyson Fury’s dad John has been told to sit in the front row instead of in his son’s corner for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury was beaten by Usyk in May as the Ukrainian became the undisputed heavyweight world champion with a points victory following a fight of two halves. The rivals will meet again on December 21 back in Saudi Arabia for their lucrative rematch – but the Brit’s dad John has been advised to take a backseat by Ricky Hatton.
“I think he should do that,” Hatton told Action Network. “I believe I speak for most coaches who would say, you can have an assistant coach or second in command in the corner and while the three minute rounds are on, you can discuss with your coaching partner about what might happen. But when the one minute interval happens, there’s got to be only one voice. If that advice is coming from (all directions), you’re like ‘where do I go’?
“I think it’s fantastic to have two people in the corner (John Fury, Andy Lee or SugarHill) it’s great because you can pick their brains. Two heads are better than one and three is better than two but in the one minute interval, you need to have one speaker and any coach that is worth their while would agree with me on that one.”
Hatton also believes Fury needs to impose his size on former cruiserweight Usyk if he is to avenge his sole career defeat. “It will be a very similar, close fight and is one of them that could go either way. If I was giving Tyson any advice, not that he needs it from me, his tactics could be a little bit better where he uses his size to his advantage,” he added.
“Usyk is a hell of a fighter, but he was letting him bully him all over the ring and you’d have thought Usyk was the man mountain and Tyson was the little fella the way he was pushing him around the ring. If Tyson holds his feet a little bit better and hits him hard, leans on him a little more, certainly in the early rounds then I think that will make a difference. Because of the size difference, Tyson started fast so there’s no way Usyk should be the one coming on strong.”
