Former WBO cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson says he has heard that Tyson Fury is being 'turned over' in sparring forward of his undisputed heavyweight conflict with Oleksandr Usyk on February 17. 

This comes after rumours emerged final week claiming the king of the cruisers Jai Opetaia had dropped Fury whereas they shared some rounds collectively. The Aussie puncher, who is about to rematch Mairis Briedis on Fury and Usyk's undercard, had been introduced into the Gypsy King's camp in Saudi Arabia resulting from his stylistic and dimensional similarities to the Ukrainian.

Like Usyk, he's a nimble southpaw of the same top, construct and attain so it appeared as if Opetaia would play a vital half in Fury's preparations. However, Opetaia is claimed to have headed again dwelling after finishing simply 5 rounds with Fury resulting in murmurs that he had floored the lineal heavyweight champion.

Yet based on Fox Sports Australia, the explanation for Opetaia's quick keep was resulting from 'an absence of orthodox sparring in Fury’s camp'. Opetaia's entourage have additionally since rubbished the rumours that he knocked down Fury in a press release launched on social media though hypothesis stays rife.

During a current look on talkSPORT's talkBoxing podcast, Nelson spoke about some worrying tales he had heard popping out of Fury's camp. "I’m hearing rumours of what’s happening in camp – I’m hearing that he’s getting turned over in the gym," he mentioned.

“So this thing about appetite when he’s in the gym, I mean, he got shown his a***. I’m hearing these things and I’m thinking has he taken his eye off the ball, or has time caught up with him?

“In regards to his last fight, I put that down to him disrespecting the man in front of him and if you’re led to believe he had the best training camp, his legs had gone.

“I’d expect Tyson Fury to beat Oleksandr Usyk, but the Tyson Fury who boxed Ngannou in his last fight gets knocked out. If that Tyson Fury turns up then it’s done, it’s over.

“The reason why I said ‘the legs are gone’ line is that I remember Tony Bellew saying it about David Haye and at first I was like ‘what?’, but when I saw it I knew what he was talking about.

“I might be saying something that might not be too popular – I expect him to win, I just think he dropped the ball in the last fight. These rumours I’m hearing, I hope they’re just rumours set about by him.”