Carl Froch claims Saudi crowd performed half in Oleksandr Usyk beating Tyson Fury
Boxing legend Carl Froch reckons Tyson Fury might have had the edge over Oleksandr Usyk if the undisputed bout hadn’t been in Saudi Arabia.
He feels a home crowd could’ve given the Gypsy King the extra push he needed to clinch the win, instead of falling to a split-decision defeat. Froch hasn’t shied away from slamming the sport for its Saudi switch.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren defended the Middle Eastern country, calling Froch a “green-eyed monster with his nose pressed up against the window looking in”. He’s now hit back, suggesting Warren would’ve been better off pushing for a British venue, reports the Express.
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He said on his Froch on Fighting YouTube channel: “The atmosphere in Saudi Arabia is not up for debate. 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.”
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(Image: PA)
Froch lauded the “passionate British crowd”, citing his “unbelievable” first victory over George Groves at Manchester Arena in 2013 and Anthony Joshua’s remarkable win against Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley in 2017 as prime examples of them creating a superior atmosphere.
He speculated that this could have been a game-changer for Fury, continuing: “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?”
