Exclusive Interview With Johnny Nelson: “Tyson Fury Might Use The Dark Arts”

Not long to go now until the massive four-belt heavyweight unification showdown between rival, unbeaten champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk finally happens. Everyone has an opinion on the fight, while some experts, such as former long-reigning WBO cruiserweight champion turned boxing pundit Johnny Nelson, feel we could see something of a controversial nature take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Nelson spoke about the dream he had, in which Fury “was not happy” at the end, with suggestions of a possible DQ being issued.

Here, Johnny kindly takes the time to speak with ESB about Saturday’s fight and a couple of other things:

Q: Quite a few people are now saying what you said a while back, that the fight will end up with some kind of controversial ending, maybe a DQ or something along those lines. Do you still feel the same way?

Johnny Nelson: “Absolutely….I even dreamed it that way! I can see Fury, if he’s getting outboxed and is losing the fight, reverting to type and him fighting – not boxing – but fighting. Which is what he knows, he’s a fighting man. I see a close fight, with Fury very possibly using the dark arts in there. He did it in the Ngannou fight, and if he finds himself under pressure, he will revert to type I think.”

Q: Do you agree with Tony Bellew when he says that if Fury and Usyk were the same size it would be a clear Usyk win?

J.N: “I do agree with Tony, yes. But the thing is, Fury IS so much bigger, so Usyk has to deal with what he’s facing. You can’t put that drama on it, saying what if they were both the same size when they’re not. Fury is so much bigger and Usyk will have to deal with that.”

Q: Who would you be most shocked to see get stopped, Fury or Usyk, and who do you think is more hungry to win? Obviously both men really want to win.

J.N: “Fury, I would be shocked to see him get stopped, especially knocked out. I think that, if that happened, Fury would never get over it. I don’t think he’d ever recover mentally. No matter what his team might say, I don’t think they’d be able to lift Fury out of it. A loss for Usyk would hurt, it would sting him, but I think he could say, to himself, ‘You know what? I went up and I fought the biggest guy out there.’ Usyk could live with it if he lost. Fury really needs to be on his best game here, though. Looking at Tyson Fury, he knows what’s at stake here and he knows he has to be at his very best. Tyson can box southpaw, he can box orthodox, and he can fight aggressively and defensively. He can also fight dirty. He can do it all. This fight, though, it’s going to be close, it’s going to be tough.”

Q: Who do you have as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now?

J.N: “I go Terence Crawford. [Naoya] Inoue is a special kid, but I go Crawford. He boxes just once a year, but in doing that he always performs and looks great. He’s a special talent. Yes, he’s always sharp when he boxes.”

Q: Finally, Johnny, how excited are you about the new Naseem Hamed film that’s being made, with Pierce Brosnan playing the great Brendan Ingle?

J.N: “It’s the Brendan Ingle AND the Naseem story. Above all, it has to be THE story about the great trainer Brendan. It has to be the real story. That’s the main thing. It has to be accurate, telling the story of what really happened.”

Johnny Nelson was speaking to Boxing 24/7 on behalf of sports betting site BetVictor