Derek Chisora thinks Tyson Fury may only have been able to train at '85 per cent' ahead of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday evening.
The Briton will be hoping to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world when he steps out at the Kingdom Arena on Saturday night.
Many will be intrigued to see how Fury, and his eye, fares when he locks horns with Usyk in just a few days.
Earlier this year, the Gypsy King sustained a serious cut above his eye that forced his bout with Usyk to be pushed back.
Boxing: Tyson Fury might only have been training at '85 per cent' according to Derek Chisora
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And Chisora thinks Fury may only have been able to train at 85 per cent, rather than 100 per cent, to avoid causing any more damage to the wound.
Speaking to Crypto Casino LTD, he said: “I want the British man to win 100 percent, but if you're a betting man you'd have to think: this is the cut he had against Otto Wallin and it's going to come back again.
"I think Tyson is going to have to box on his back foot. But then again he might drop Usyk with an uppercut.
“The cut could play a big factor in the fight. Has that massive cut managed to properly heal?
"It can make sparring difficult, you’d be cautious to open it up again.
"It’s a predicament. While Usyk is doing everything the right way, is Tyson doing his camp at 85 percent of what he would have been doing before he got the cut?
"Only his close team will know. Usyk is undoubtedly going to be targeting that cut."
Fury, to his credit, is relaxed over the possibility of the cut opening up again.
Speaking to The Telegraph earlier this week, the Briton said 'viewing figures will go up' if there's blood on show.
“I’m not concerned about the eye," he insisted.
“If it gets cut, the viewing figures will go up, there will be blood everywhere and I won’t let them stop the fight.
“I’m looking to do a demolition job on him. I just want to beat the silly sausage.
"Yes, Usyk is fast, talented, he out-boxed a big heavyweight in Anthony Joshua twice but AJ is one-dimensional, one-paced, and I could outbox him with a blindfold on. I’m just different.”
In a separate interview with TNT Sports, Fury also admitted he was 'depressed' when the injury first happened.
He feared the prospect of the showdown happening was dead in the water.
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But Fury is glad they were able to arrange a new date, with the veteran also shedding light on how the cut happened.
"It [camp] was practically finished, we maybe had a few little rounds to do after that sparring-wise," he recalled.
"When it happened, I was like ‘oh s**t’, I’ve got a cut, how bad is it?
"When I saw it was a big old gash, I was thinking ‘s**t’. It didn’t sink in for a few hours until I had my stitches in.
"And I thought, ‘it’s all off, can’t believe it’s all off’.
Boxing: Tyson Fury is glad his fight with Oleksandr Usyk is finally going ahead after months of delays
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"I was quite down for a few days, I was depressed.
"As soon as we got it all sorted and put it back on for another day, I was alright then."
