Archer targeted
FREDDIE ROACH is confident Deontay Wilder has underestimated Tyson Fury.
Coaching legend Roach will be in Fury’s corner after being drafted in earlier this month by Fury and trainer Ben Davison.
He revealed he did not charge Fury a penny for use of his gym in the build-up to the showdown in Los Angeles.
But Fury may have got even better value, with Roach’s inside knowledge of Wilder’s preparations for the clash.
The trainer, who has led the career of Manny Pacquiao, revealed he has been told by spies in Wilder’s camp that the WBC champion is not ready.
He said: “What I will say is that anyone who underestimates Tyson Fury is a fool.
“And you know what? I’ve had two guys in Wilder’s training camp giving me reports from there – and he’s not ready for this fight.
“Have they underestimated Fury? Big time. They don’t know what they’re in for, 100 per cent.”
Wilder has won 39 of his 40 fights inside the distance, while Fury has gone the distance eight times in his 27-fight unblemished career.
That would suggest that the American is the bigger puncher.
But Roach dismissed that idea as he backed his new charge to win by knockout – and it could even come in the first round.
He said: “Fury’s under this guy’s skin. This guy is going to come and try to kill him and if Wilder walks into that one-two, he’s dead.
“This could be an early one. I really think we can knock this guy out. He’s a little bit sloppy and I think, straight down the middle, Tyson is the bigger puncher of the two.
“He even said to me, ‘Freddie, what if I go out there and knock him out in the first round?’.
“I said, ‘Yeah, okay, that’s possible, but don’t you think there’s a better way? Maybe break him down a bit first?’.”
®ÊCRICKET
ENGLAND could fast-track Sussex pace bowler Jofra Archer into their World Cup plans.
The ECB yesterday announced it would now take three years rather than seven to qualify on residency grounds.
And Barbados-born Archer, who has an English father, will be available to play from March onwards, with the seasonopening ODI against Ireland in Dublin his likely debut.