Oleksandr Usyk responded to Tyson Fury’s decision to withdraw from their undisputed fight by hopping into the ring to spar straight away.
Fury’s title match with Usyk for all four major world heavyweight titles has been pushed back due to a “freak cut” that Fury received above his right eye. On February 17, Fury was scheduled to defend his WBC belt against his Ukrainian rival in Saudi Arabia, who is also the WBA, IBF, and WBO champion.
Regrettably, with only 15 days until one of this year’s most eagerly anticipated fights, Fury’s promoters Queensberry announced Fury had an injury caused by sparring at his Riyadh training camp.
Fury expressed his sadness in a statement: “I am absolutely devastated after preparing for this fight for so long and being in such superb condition. I feel bad for everyone involved in this huge event and I will work diligently towards the rescheduled date once the eye has healed. I can only apologise to everyone affected.”
Later on social media, he added: “Can’t help getting injured in sparring but what I can say was Usyk was in trouble I am in fantastic shape. I will reschedule soon as I can. 2024 a massive year for team GK.” Meanwhile, Usyk’s promoter posted a photo of Usyk sparring with the caption “Usyk right now” and a face-palm emoji.
Fury’s promoters, Queensberry, expressed their disappointment in a statement: “Whilst this is still breaking news it is clearly a massive disappointment, after the work that has been done by so many people to finally deliver this historic event to the world. Once the doctors have appraised Tyson’s eye, we will have a better idea of the period of recovery needed.”
Fury was set to fight Ukrainian Usyk in a match called ‘Ring of Fire’. This followed his narrow victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who was making his boxing debut. Despite being knocked down in the third round, Fury won on points.
