Tyson Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion, has warned Cristiano Ronaldo that time waits for no man, claiming the Portugal star is ‘on the slide.’
Fury, a Manchester United supporter, has compared Ronaldo to Wladimir Klitschko at the end of his boxing career.
Ronaldo has recently been benched for both Manchester United and Portugal, most recently against Switzerland in the World Cup’s last-16.
Fury told talkSport that beating Klitschko in 2015 was the “Everest,” but that other factors such as age play a role in a sportsman’s career.
“In this game it’s not about how much better somebody is than the other person, a lot of it has to do with natural stuff, like age, and at 39-years old you are on the decline, whether you want to admit it or not.
“If you look at Cristiano Ronaldo, he’s 37 years old, he’s had the best doctors, the best physiotherapists, he’s lived like an egg in Mr Kipling’s cake.
“But even Ronaldo is on the slide now, so even someone who has looked after himself like that, it catches up to you… so imagine a boxer who has been punched to pieces for the last 20 years.
“The age factor will not wait for anybody, no matter how you’ve lived.
“Whether you’ve never had a drink in your life, if you’ve never run on any hard surfaces, no matter who you are, age will get you eventually.”