Billy Joe Saunders has offered a worrying explanation why his close friend Tyson Fury was so poor during his rather unconvincing victory over Francis Ngannou.
The 35-year-old World Boxing Championship (WBC) heavyweight champion beat former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star Ngannou in their highly anticipated in Saudi Arabia.
During the 10-round bout, the 37-year-old Ngannou impressed, and even dropped Fury to the canvas in the third round.
After a tight fight, Fury emerged victorious via a split decision, with two out of three judges deciding in the Gypsy King's favour.
Advert
There is a legitimate argument for Ngannou to be granted a rematch, after Fury landed an illegal elbow on his opponent midway through the contest.
However, speaking after the fight in Riyadh, Fury is now focused on fighting Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, with a unified heavyweight title clash on the horizon.
Fury said: "Listen, it's been going on a long time. We were supposed to fight in April at Wembley, it never happened. Let's do the fight over here for all the belts.
"These guys will sort it all out and it will be on. It will be our next fight, guaranteed."
Saunders, who is a close friend of Fury, had his say in the aftermath of the fight and explained why the heavyweight champion did not live up to people's expectations in Saudi Arabia.
Taking to Instagram, Saunders said that Fury was "not switched on from the word go" in his pre-fight training camp ahead of the clash against Ngannou.
But he believes it will be a different story when Fury takes on Usyk, which is expected to take place either in December or January.
Saunders wrote: "Too many yes men in camp, not switched on from the word go.
"But he [will] be switched on for the Ukrainian."
SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.
Topics: Francis Ngannou, Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Boxing, Heavyweight Boxing
John McDougall