Tyson Fury’s father, John, believes that Deontay Wilder’s trilogy bout against the Gypsy King may ‘cost him his career and his life’.
The two fighters will face off against each other for the third time in October, with the original date having been pushed back after Fury tested positive for Covid-19.
And during the typically explosive build-up, John offered the stark warning to Wilder – claiming that Fury will devastate him and potentially leave him ‘an invalid’.
Speaking to Boxing Social, he opened up on his belief that Wilder’s camp selected Fury because they believed that their man would be able to win.
Asked for his feelings on Wilder underestimating his son, John said: ‘Like Tyson got cherry-picked with Deontay Wilder twice.
‘Because if they never saw Tyson’s eye hanging off against Otto Wallin, a terrible performance, they wouldn’t have wanted the second fight.
‘But they saw the Otto Wallin fight and thought, “Yup, Wilder can’t lose. Wilder will chin him.”
‘They cherry-picked him the first time thinking, “He’s been out of the ring for years, he’s been abusing himself. We can’t lose.”
‘But every time Tyson, when he’s in that ring, he changes his full job.’
John is adamant that brokering a third showdown was a mistake on the part of Wilder, and tipped Fury to kill his opponent in truly chilling fashion.
‘He can look terrible in a training camp, but when he gets in that ring, he’s a different man, different animal,’ he added. ‘And they got it wrong twice.
‘And they’ll get it wrong the third time. But the third time will cost him his career and his life, probably.
‘If he’s not dead, he’ll be an invalid, which is a silly man. But if they want to sell their soul and put their life on the line for money, which I’m sure they will, get on with it.’
The two rivals have made their distaste for each other clear over recent months, and Wilder stepped up the war of words by threatening to ‘commit a legal homicide’.