By: Sean Crose
As he prepares to take on former UFC great Francis Ngannou in what will no doubt be a highly lucrative novelty fight, WBC and lineal heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury is getting a little help from a friend…Mauricio Sulaiman. The WBC boss isn’t helping Fury prepare for Ngannou. Rather, he’s helping the towering Englishman fend off some serious accusations. Fury was recently in negotiations to fight both WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk, as well as former titlist Anthony Joshua. Yet each fight, for whatever reason, fell through. The undefeated Fury has subsequently been the target of much criticism for not facing top competition.
‘He is not fighting Oleksandr Usyk because he was not ready last December. Then they couldn’t do it in March and then they went their separate ways,” Suleiman said to Gambling.com, via the Daily Mail. “Anthony Joshua – the same thing, so don’t blame Tyson Fury. He has been there and been there ready.” With that being said, Sulaiman indicated he was quite excited about Fury’s upcoming battle with Ngannou in Saudi Arabia.
‘I love the event,” he said. “Those crossover events are giving the sport respect and doing it within the rules of boxing. Conor McGregor against Floyd Mayweather was a huge event and so will this (be). We are fine, respectful, and supporting our champion.” But couldn’t Fury face a mandatory contender instead of a boxing novice? “If you force the mandatory just for the sake of it,” said Sulaiman, “you are doing a disservice to the sport. We will not be rushing up a mandatory contender.”
Besides, Sulaiman argued, there’s no mandatory for Fury to face anyway. ‘We had ordered Wilder vs Ruiz and the winner would have been a sensational mandatory contender and that fight did not take place,” he said. “They are not participating in it so there is no mandatory contender. Fury is the best heavyweight without a doubt.” Again, Sulaiman wants it known that Fury longs for big fights. It’s just Fury hasn’t been allowed to land one lately. So says Sulaiman.
“Tyson Fury is the WBC heavyweight champion,” Sulaiman said. “He has been willing, able, and trying to fight Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz Jr or anyone and has not been able to land the fight that the fans would like to see.” Fury and Ngannou will be squaring off on October 28th in Riyadh.
