Tyson Fury’s father has warned his son that ‘yes men’ will hurt his chances of defeating Deontay Wilder in their trilogy rematch.
Fury will take on Wilder on October 9 in a long-awaited third fight, but John Fury has suggested there is much to improve about his son’s current condition.
Fury Jr. had been expected to fight Anthony Joshua this summer in Saudi Arabia to decide the title of the undisputed world heavyweight champion. However Wilder won his arbitration case, and then the WBC champion was laid low by a bout of the coronavirus, meaning that July fight is now set for the Autumn.
Fury Sr. still believes the current champion is favourite, but told BT Sport that his preparation in America leaves him vulnerable.
"He's out there and he's not under the watchful eye, he's around all these yes men when he gets out," Fury's father said.
"Because when he gets off the plane in Las Vegas, you've got 200 yes men waiting for him looking to get that from him.
"Because he's the Pied Piper, ain't he? That's what he does. People follow him around just to get what they can and they're saying 'Yes, Tyson. You're this, you're that, you're the best in the world. We love you.'
"This kid's heard it all before in my life - they don't love ya, they don't care ya, they just want your money and your profile to make their status bigger for being around you."
Before the fight, Fury will have a month in Manchester before going back to America, and his dad has been attempting to remove malignant influences from his entourage.
"I don't want all them fake plastic pretenders around me," John said.
"Because you know that size 12, it goes right up their backside.
"That's what happens when you're around me, get down that road; 'What are you bringing to my son's table?' If it's not relevant, you're gone.
"But Tyson's not like that, he just hasn't got that character, but I have and you need people like me, somebody's got to point the finger at the bad guy.
"Tony Montana said that in the film 'Scarface.' Point it at me, but I am the bad guy because I'm getting that boot up the backside and down the road, gone.
"Because they're not relevant to his job. Or he'll get beat, he needs to work, like we're working in here.
"One-to-one, a select few people around him who he can trust and work and work again."
John Fury believes that Tyson needs to apply more effort ahead of the third match.
"Get it all right and shed blood, snot and tears in the gym," he explained.
"I don't see him doing that today.
"I watch him in America doing a minute on the pads and being talked to afterwards, you know what they'll do: they'll do a minute's work and talk for two minutes.
"And I've witnessed it firsthand and I've thought to myself, 'You know what? This ain't making sense to me, and he's sort of lost his bit of movement that he had, for my money.
"He used to be elusive, he used to be awkward, coming at you from all different styles. He's gone a bit one dimensional."