Tyson Fury admits his lack of recent fights is a concern heading into his bout with Germany's Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas.
Fury's bid to return to the top of heavyweight boxing continues at the MGM Grand in the early hours of tomorrow morning in what will be his first fight since his draw with Deontay Wilder in December last year.
"I've been out of the ring for six months, so I'll have to start again," the lineal world champ said ahead of this weekend.
"That's seven months' inactivity. I only had six months of activity before that. They spoke about Golovkin being out of the ring for nine months as his biggest lay-off ever; I've just had seven.
"Seven months out of the ring is a hell of a long time. I hope I'm going to get active this next six months; the first six months of this year have been quite terrible because I didn't get the fight I wanted and have been made to wait until June.
"Going 12 rounds with Deontay Wilder doesn't give me any confidence. It actually makes me have concerns - I thought I could get Deontay Wilder out of there within six rounds, so having to go 12 with him wasn't great. I should have done better.
"Against Wilder I was 17st 12lbs; today I'm 18st 12lbs. I've put on a stone of muscle in all of the right places."
Lionel Hahn/PA Wire
The winner of Fury and Schwartz is likely to be named the mandatory challenger for Andy Ruiz Junior's newly acquired WBC belt but rumours persist that a rematch with Wilder is next up for Fury.
"Deontay Wilder's living his life in my reputation and the fight he had with me," said Fury of the speculation.
"I'm here headlining in Vegas, and he's (saying) 'I want a rematch with Tyson to try and get that loss out of my mind'. He knows he was beaten soundly.
"I'm enjoying my life, thinking about Tom Schwarz, and every time Wilder looks in the mirror he knows he lost a fight. I'm the only unbeaten heavyweight at the top; Wilder's lost, Joshua's lost and Ruiz has lost. They've all lost apart from me.
"I haven't agreed to anything past Tom Schwarz."
