Gypsy King attended a star-studded dinner only the night before the crossover clash
TYSON FURY has been backed to still beat Oleksandr Usyk by Carl Frampton despite struggling against Francis Ngannou.
That’s because Frampton reckons a dinner Fury attended the night before his Saudi bout could have affected his performance.
Fury’s undisputed title fight with Usyk in Riyadh is still on, after he controversially beat Ngannou on points.
And Frampton told BBC Sport: “I still have Fury as a favourite against Usyk.
“He obviously needs to be much better than he was in his last fight, which he will be.”
Fury, 35, and Usyk, 36, signed to meet in the heavyweight division’s first ever four-belt unification BEFORE the Gypsy King’s ill-fated crossover clash.
And Ngannou, 37, astonishingly went onto knock down and leave the Gypsy King battered and bruised.
Despite escaping with a disputed victory, Fury’s undisputed title decider, which had been earmarked for Christmas time, now looks to be postponed until February.
The WBC champ kept his undefeated boxing record in front of a star-studded selections of guests.
Football icon like Cristiano Ronaldo, boxing great Mike Tyson and UFC superstar Conor McGregor were among those ringside.
And the week was full of celebrated names arriving in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Several attended a dinner the night before the fight, including Fury himself.
And retired Frampton, 36, said: “It seems he’s doing too much.
“Both guys were at the gala dinner the night before the event, what’s that about? I wouldn’t have been doing that if I was fighting.
“I would have been resting, but we all know Fury is much better than what we saw, and everyone is entitled to a bad performance once in a while.”
