World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has supported close friend Billy Joe Saunders ahead of his super-middleweight title unifier with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
The 168lb WBO king will attempt to pull off Mission Impossible on May 8, by topping the Mexican on Cinco de Mayo weekend in front of a capacity crowd at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas.
And as Fury also prepares for a career-defining showdown with Anthony Joshua in Las Vegas, he took to social media to get behind a fellow Brit he has known well since their days on the amateur circuit.
Tagging Saunders in a caption to a photo of the pair in top shape on a set of exercise bikes, Fury insisted that the 31-year-old is "100% mentally in the right place".
"He knows what he has to do and he will do it, he will rise up top and claim greatness," Fury went on.
"I was wrote [sic] off many times in the past and have always come through, WE are cut from the same cloth, [the] same breed of animals," he said, in reference to their shared Traveller heritage.
"Canelo has fought them all but never a Fighting Gypsy, we are a different breed of animal to anything he has come across before," Fury signed off, along with the hashtag #YESHEWILL, a '100' emoji, and the phrase "global domination with the help of God".
Fans were divided on the prediction, with one noting that Fury was "repeating everything I’ve said about BJS." "People are stupid to write him off so easily," it was added.
"Billy Joe is the best fighter at his weight [and] now is the time to prove it," pointed out another.
The general consensus, though, is that Saunders is in too deep.
"Can BJS box perfectly for 12 rounds? Against one of the best pressure fighters around at the moment, against someone who also has the ability to box as well as KO you?," it was asked.
"I’m expecting a late stoppage from Canelo."
"It is great that you believe in your friend, but does he really believe in himself? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that he is unlikely to ever get again, not many people believe he can do it," came one reply to Fury.
"Then when Canelo knocks him out you'll say he was under prepared and that he wasn't in the right mental place...," predicted another naysayer.
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