Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch is not convinced Tyson Fury will be ready in time for the rescheduled date with Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury was set to face Usyk in a highly anticipated undisputed fight on February 17th in Saudi Arabia.

Last week, the fight was officially postponed after Fury suffered a severe cut in training camp. The cut was the result of an accidental elbow during a sparring session.

The new date of May 18 was quickly announced, but not everyone believes Fury will have enough time to get properly ready for the contest.

“The date they’ve announced is really convenient. Everybody's upset, infuriated and deflated that this undisputed everywhere title fight's not happening. So what do they do? They come out with a date of May 18. Take that with a pinch of salt. They're giving us something to think about. They're giving us something to talk about and to keep the dream alive and keep all the fans intrigued," Froch explained to Talk Sport.

“That date is something that's been plucked out of the air and I think we're being paid lip service because you can't say May 18 because you don't know what Fury is going to be doing now for the next two months and how that eye's going to heal. It's nice that they've got a date and they've put it in there and they still want it to happen but, to be honest, I don't get excited when I hear that.”

Froch has been very vocal in his belief that Fury has been declining as a fighter in the last few years.

Back in October, Fury struggled to win a close ten round split decision over MMA veteran Francis Ngannou, who was making his pro debut as a boxer. Fury was dropped in the third round and had issues with the style of Ngannou throughout the fight.

"He's on the slide, he's passed his best. I watched his fights from when we talked about the Deontay Wilder fight, when he was throwing 20-30 feints every round, he was bouncing on his toes, he was putting combinations together, he was moving a lot. Now he's slowing down, he's throwing less feints, he's killing the clock and he's been dropped four times in his last 70 rounds. When you look at statistics and facts they do not lie and I think Tyson Fury is on the slide," Froch said.