Fury suffered the first loss of his professional boxing career to the Ukrainian in May, losing out on the undisputed heavyweight title by split decision. Despite the highly-anticipated rematch with Usyk set for December 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Nelson believes Fury will run from the biggest fight of his career.

Former boxer Nelson was asked about worrying footage of Fury which recently emerged online showing the 6ft 9in fighter being escorted out of a Morecambe pub by security last Friday. The 35-year-old was seen stumbling before falling to his knees outside and seemingly hitting his head against a lamp post.

Nelson defended Fury during an interview on Seconds Out, stating: “He’s a man, he’s gone out for a drink. That’s it. There’s no law against getting drunk. He’s not done anything wrong, he’s just got p***ed.”

He implied that there was a connection between the incident seen in the video and Fury’s defeat three weeks prior, saying: “I think for Tyson Fury, the realisation of what’s happened to him, will kick in slowly but surely.

“It probably buys into all the theories of whether he will box again and where his head’s going to be at for the Usyk rematch. I don’t believe Tyson will fight Oleksandr Usyk next, or again. He could retire because of the manner of the defeat – he’s struggling to deal with it.

“As long as Usyk’s around, he ain’t gonna box. He can’t get his head around it. I don’t think he’ll go through that again. He can smile and joke but it’s a big deal.”

Nelson was also asked if this could be the start of a mental health spiral similar to Fury’s post-Wladimir Klitschko win in 2015, which saw him balloon to 28 stone and turn to alcohol and drugs. Fury made a miraculous comeback after cleaning up his act and dropping 10 stone. 

The Sky Sports analyst added: “That’s exactly what it is. All these people around him trivialising it, they’re not in his head. They’re not the guys that took the beating. What does Tyson Fury need? He needs someone to listen to.”