I can’t slip up or Wilder will be out of the window
TYSON FURY has promised not to slip up against Francesco Pianeta – with Deontay Wilder ringside.
Former heavyweight world champion Fury fights for only the second time since November 2015 on Saturday on the undercard of Carl Frampton’s clash with Luke Jackson in Belfast.
Unbeaten Fury is the odds-on favourite to easily dispatch his 33-year-old opponent, who has lost twice since last October.
WBC heavyweight king Wilder will be watching ringside with a showdown against Fury already pencilled in for November.
But Fury, 30, says Pianeta is more than capable of spoiling his plans for a crack at another world title.
He said: “Of course I’m aware of what is at stake. I definitely can’t afford to slip on the banana skin. It is a very serious matter and all eyes are on me. Fighting Wilder may as well be a million years in the future – I’ve got to concentrate on fighting this guy in front of me.
“If he beats me, he’s going on to something very big, it’s life-changing for him. If I can’t beat him then I can’t beat the rest of them.
“And if I don’t do what I think I can do then I’ll get chinned in 10 seconds.” Fury is battling to win back his old three major titles and a new one in the WBC crown.
He said: “It will be better this time because it’s got more pain in it. Before my life went quite smoothly, whatever I wanted I got and wherever I wanted to be I ended up there.
“I never really knew any heartache or sadness. I didn’t know what I had that was good until it was gone.”