Oleksandr Usyk has been backed to beat Tyson Fury by one of the Gypsy King's former opponents.
Fury's former rival Steve Cunningham has said that he believes Usyk would be able to command a stern enforcement of the rules, which he feels he couldn't when he faced off against the Brit.
Usyk defeated Anthony Joshua on Saturday to take the unified heavyweight titles from the Londoner, and is expected to give Joshua an immediate rematch.
But Cunningham believes that if Usyk were to ever face Fury, that he would be the man to become undisputed at heavyweight after his dominant win over Joshua.
"I got Usyk to beat Fury," Cunningham said in a tweet. "Usyk moves and connects and bangs when he wants.
"And unlike me Oleksandr Usyk has the promotional and managerial team behind him with power to make Fury get called on the fouls he will have to resort to in order to slow Usyk down.
"Remember my fight with him."
Cunningham infamously dropped Fury on his American debut at Madison Square Garden, with the Brit ultimately coming back to win the bout by KO in the seventh.
Fury has since said that the American, who was also a former cruiserweight champion chasing a heavyweight title, was one of the hardest punchers he has ever faced.
The unbeaten Fury had said before the fight that he was rooting for Joshua to beat Usyk, understanding that there were tens of millions of pounds on the line should he and 'AJ' ever meet.
“Do I want him to win? Definitely," Fury said of Joshua.
"Because it doesn’t make much sense in me beating Usyk up. I’d much prefer to beat Joshua up. It’s a bigger fight and people want to see it more.
“If Usyk does then he will cost us a few quid, won’t he? Then again we have lost plenty of money in the past so it doesn’t really matter, does it? There’s plenty to go around.”
Fury hasn't commented much on Usyk as a prospective challenger, instead focusing his attentions on his own title defence against Wilder next month.
Who wins an undisputed heavyweight title fight, Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know in the comments section!
He was supposed to fight Joshua for the undisputed belt in Saudi Arabia on August 14, but was instead ordered to face Wilder for a third time by a court in the United States.
And Fury's promoter Frank Warren told TalkSPORT that all the Manchester native could see in the bout was the disappearing of a big money bout.
“I spoke to Tyson during the fight and we were both of the same opinion," Warren explained.
“All Tyson could see was a massive big fight going down the drain, which is what happened."
“I said to Tyson, ‘Can you imagine if you were in there with him, how long that would’ve lasted?'," Warren added.
“Tyson’s got as fast hands as Usyk’s got, as good a boxing brain as Usyk’s got and as good footwork as Usyk’s got."
Usyk will have to rematch Joshua for his belts before a potential match-up with the winner of Fury-Wilder 3.
But he has stated his interest in unifying the division, telling IFLTV that he would "of course" like to face Fury should he beat Wilder next month.
