Tyson Fury no longer big Usyk fight favourite as 'dreadful' Francis Ngannou display has promoter hedging his bets

Tyson Fury's US promoter Bob Arum admits he isn't sure his man will come out on top in next month's mammoth meeting with Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title.

Undefeated duo Fury and Usyk will put their undefeated records on the line in Riyadh Saudia Arabia on May 18. The fight was initially supposed to take place in February, but had to be postponed after the "Gypsy King" fury suffered a nasty cut above his eye in sparring. But veteran boxing promoter Arum, who has previously worked with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson in his long career in the sport, says he has lost some confidence that Fury will come out on top in the stellar clash.

In his most recent outing last October, Fury produced a below-par display against former UFC heavyweight champion turned boxer Francis Ngannou, who stepped into a professional boxing ring for the first time. Despite his novice status, Ngannou shocked the world with a credible display and was highly unfortunate to lose the bout on a points decision after sending Fury to the canvas in the third round.

However, the Ghanaian then went onto suffer a brutal knockout at the hands of fellow Brit Anthony Joshua in his next contest, with the former two-time world champion destroying Ngannou inside two rounds.Arum, 92, has questioned the reason behind Fury's abject display and hopes that he prepares himself to the best of his abilities for next month's unprecedented showdown with Usyk in the Middle East, Speaking to Boxnation, he said: “I always, once this fight was made, I always felt that Fury was a big, big favourite because I thought his size and his boxing ability would be too much for Usyk. So I looked at it as a 3 or 4-1 fight in favour of Tyson Fury.

“But I’m