Carl Froch has bold new theory on why Tyson Fury lost to Oleksandr Usyk
Carl Froch believes one major factor didn't work in Tyson Fury's favour in his split-decision defeat by Oleksandr Usyk
Carl Froch has suggested Tyson Fury could’ve beaten Oleksandr Usyk had the fight not been in Saudi Arabia. He believes a British crowd may have been what the Gypsy King needed to get him over the line.
Froch has been a vocal critic of boxing's move to the Middle East. That prompted backlash from Frank Warren, who defended the Saudi atmosphere and labelled him a “green-eyed monster with his nose pressed up against the window looking in”.
But Froch has now told Warren he may have cost Fury the undisputed heavyweight title by agreeing to hold the bout in Riyadh instead of on home soil. Speaking on his Froch on Fighting YouTube channel, the former super-middleweight world champion argued: “The atmosphere in Saudi Arabia is not up for debate.
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“I’ve been to Saudi Arabia, the atmosphere every single time I’ve been there has been really poor. I enjoyed the 5v5, some great fights - somebody’s falling asleep at ringside. Other people are on their phones when the action’s kicking off.
“The [Filip] Hrgovic-[Daniel] Dubois fight was great - nobody was interested. There was a few British fans in the background out of their seats. But everybody ringside, it doesn’t lift the fighters and it’s bad for the sport. It’s a real shame.”
Froch believes the “passionate British crowd” make for a far better event, hailing his “unbelievable” first victory over George Groves at the Manchester Arena in 2013 and also highlighting Anthony Joshua’s stunning win at Wembley against Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 amongst other examples.
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And he theorised that could’ve made all the difference for Fury, who was only on the receiving end of a split-decision defeat despite Usyk having the better of the contest.
He continued: “90,000, it was unbelievable, and that got him (Joshua) off the canvas, climbed off the canvas to beat Klitschko. Now who’s to say when Fury fought Usyk that he wouldn’t have finished stronger? The last three rounds, Tyson Fury needed to press through the gears, up the pace.
"With the crowd behind him shouting and screaming at him, who’s to say Fury wouldn’t have finished stronger and actually got that win? So the lack of atmosphere in Saudi could’ve cost the British fans the undisputed heavyweight title. Have you thought about that?”