Derek Chisora believes Tyson Fury is doubting himself ahead of his mega showdown with Anthony Joshua.
Fury and Joshua have signed to fight each other in one of the most eagerly-awaited heavyweight dust-ups in recent memory.
‘AJ’ will first return after a sixth round stoppage of Jake Paul in December, in a warm-up bout against unknown Albanian, Kristian Prenga on July 25 in Saudi Arabia.
Fury came out of retirement to outpoint Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April.
Chisora, who has lost to ‘The Gypsy King’ on three occasions, believes the 37-year-old is lacking belief over beating his British rival following his performance against Makhmudov.
“Do you know why Tyson is having another fight in between?” Chisora said on Daily Mail Boxing.
“Because he knows in his last fight at Tottenham, he didn’t feel good in himself.
“He probably went back and watched it and goes, ‘you know what, I can’t fight Anthony Joshua while I’m like this.’
“‘I need to get another warm-up fight.’”
The Morecambe man has revealed his intentions to fight on August 1 in Dublin, which would likely fall on the undercard of Pierce O’Leary’s clash with Mark Chamberlain.
Fury called out Joshua after defeating Makhmudov, but the Watford man refused his invitation to enter the ring and face off with him.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn also feels the two-time heavyweight world champion is lacking confidence following his April comeback win.
“He’s going to do what he’s going to do,” the 46-year-old told Sky Sports Boxing.
“And if he feels like he needs a good fight, I like that because what that’s telling me is he’s not quite sure of himself.
“He did 12 good rounds with Makhmudov, to a point where do you really need more rounds?
“He said to us, ‘you don’t need another fight.’
“We had four rounds with Jake Paul in two years of boxing.
“You had 12 rounds with Makhmudov at Tottenham, but you still feel like you need more rounds to prepare yourself for Anthony Joshua.
“More rounds ain’t going to help you, because I see it.
“When Makhmudov came forward in that fight, I know what AJ is going to do.”
‘AJ’ came face-to-face with Prenga at a launch press conference in London earlier this week.
The bout will mark the first time the two-time heavyweight world champion has fought since being involved in a horror car crash in Nigeria 10 days after beating Paul, which killed two of his close friends.
The crash left him with minor injuries and he has since returned to training camp in Valencia alongside former foe, Oleksandr Usyk.
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