John Fury, father of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, admits that he’s witnessed a decline in his son when examining his last three ring appearances.

Last month in Saudi Arabia, Fury was nearly derailed by MMA veteran Francis Ngannou in a non-title crossover boxing match.

Ngannou, who was making his professional debut, dropped Fury in the third round and made the fight very competitive until the final bell.

Fury was able to secure a razor-close ten round split decision win. Most observers had expected a complete mismatch.

Up next, on February 17, is an undisputed showdown with WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk.

John Fury believes his son needs more time to get properly prepared for Usyk.

“The 17th February is the date they have got to work towards. But in my opinion, Tyson needs a bit more time to get his conditioning right and his weight right,” John Fury told Metro.co.uk.

“For my money, his last three fights, I have seen a bit of decline. Not a decline in ability but a decline in strength, power and physical condition. I don’t know what they are doing up there, you have to address it. He didn’t look himself out in Saudi.

“He didn’t look right, everything had changed about him, his demeanor, his body. I was puzzled. He said he had been training but there is training and there is training. If you’re going at your own pace no one is going to tell you otherwise, no one is going to offend you or kick you up the backside. No one can teach Tyson how to box, or teach him more than he knows. All they can do is put some muscle on there and make his body rock solid.

“For my money he looked fat-thin, he should have been better, a bit heavier with a lot more muscle. Tyson is a mammoth fella. He needs to power up in the body department and the only way you do that is a proper course and they take time and we don’t have the time.”