Some have suggested that Tyson Fury somehow arranged to suffer a cut over his right eye because he was seeking a way to delay or get out of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
The fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship, scheduled for Feb. 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was pushed back to May 18 in the same location because of the injury. Fury and team, which announced the postponement Friday, said the cut was suffered during sparring.
Frank Warren’s reaction to the comments about Fury? Rubbish.
Fury’s co-promoter reportedly said his client had been “training like a demon” and was ready to do battle with his principal rival in the sport’s glamour division.
“Tyson wants [the fight],” said Warren, Fuy’s co-promoter. “Some of the stuff that’s been going out, I’ve never heard anything like it. Has Tyson got make-believe stitches in his eye? What they’re saying is libelous and scandalous.”
Fury had been training in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the year. Warren said he has now returned to his home in Morecambe, England, where he’ll give the cut time to heal.
“He’ll want to be with his family,” Warren said. “He can’t continue training as such. He can tick over. He can get on the bike and keep well but when you’re training for a fight, you’re training to reach your ultimate best, your peak.
“Now he has to wind down and set everything back in motion to get himself up and ready and make sure he’s at his best for 18 May.”
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) is coming off a surprisingly difficult fight against MMA star Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28, when he got up from a knockdown to eke out a split-decision victory. Ngannou was making his professional boxing debut.
Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) also went down in his most recent fight, a ninth-round knockout victory over Daniel Dubois on Aug. 26.
