Alalshikh announces May 18 as new date for Fury-Usyk mega fight
Bout was postponed for three months due to Fury's cut eye
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The day after the four-belt heavyweight unification fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed title was postponed, Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, the point person bringing major events to the country, announced on Saturday that it has been rescheduled for May 18 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
The first undisputed heavyweight championship fight since Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield II in 1999 had been scheduled for Feb. 17 at the same venue but was postponed Friday after Fury suffered a gruesome cut over his right eye during a morning sparring session with Croatian pro Agron Smakici, who caught him with an uppercut and a errant elbow on the follow through that slipped under the headgear.
On Saturday, Alalshikh and Fury, who were sitting together in Riyadh, and Usyk and manager Egis Klimas, who were at training camp in Spain, appeared jointly on combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” YouTube show, where Alalshikh, who is the chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, made the announcement of the new date.
Alalshikh also said it was he who selected the new date and promised that if one of the fighters “escapes” the bout he will be forced to pay the other man $10 million. He also said another opponent for a “big fight” would fill in and the event would move forward.
“Make the people around the world, the fans, know if someone is scared or wants to escape from this fight that on 18 May we will have Tyson-Usyk, Usyk-Tyson,” Alalshikh said. “If someone’s scared, if Usyk’s scared, I will call for (Anthony) Joshua-Tyson. If Tyson’s scared I will call for any fighter Usyk wants.”
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It remains to be seen if the three-month delay is enough time for the cut, which appeared severe, to heal in time as well as to allow Fury additional sparring in preparation, but Alalshikh said the fight will happen May 18. He referenced a deadline from the IBF, which has allowed the fight as long as Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs), 31, of Croatia, who is the IBF mandatory challenger, gets the next shot at that belt, whether it’s against the winner or a vacant title, since Fury and Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), 37, of Ukraine, have a rematch clause. Hrgovic has a multi-fight deal with the Saudis.
Alalshikh also said he has offered Hrgovic a slot on the undercard of the March 8 event headlined by Joshua-Francis Ngannou and named six potential opponents for Hrgovic to face while he awaits his mandated title shot: Daniel Dubois, Martin Bakole, Frank Sanchez, Jarrell Miller, Agit Kabayel and Jared Anderson.
“We are not playing,” Alalshikh said. “If I had 1 percent that (Fury) is cheating (by planning the cut) I would not be sitting here. … (Fury and Usyk) both want this fight and want the fans to see it.”
At the start of the joint interview, Fury explained what happened in the Friday incident.
“I arranged to spar 12 rounds with four different guys. In round 5 I got an elbow in the eye — a split eye — and obviously I’ve been to the hospital and had 11 stitches. They have the medical reports, they have everything. Have a look at the eye. There you go,” Fury said as he leaned in close to the camera so the audience could have a better look at the stitches. “Right across the eye. Lovely. Nothing much anybody can do about getting cut in sparring. Shit happens. I’ve never had one before (from sparring). First time for everything.”
‘If I think Tyson is scared of this fight I would not waste my time. The cut happened,’ — Turki Alalshikh
Soon after the incident, a 15-second video clip purported to be when the cut happened circulated online. Alalshikh confirmed it was legitimate and that he has “a special camera” in Fury’s training camp that allows him to watch him train daily and that the footage was from that camera.
When asked for his reaction to the cut and postponement, Usyk said, “My reaction — just smile. … I just smile and go to training.”
The fight was initially planned for Dec. 23 but postponed until Feb. 17 because Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs), 35, of England, got cut, dropped and banged around in far tougher fight than anyone expected when he was forced to eke out a disputed 10-round split decision against former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou in his pro boxing debut on Oct. 28 in Riyadh.
Klimas, who has had harsh words for Fury, continued to say he believed the cut was a planned injury because “he doesn’t want to fight Usyk.”
Fury shot back, “Why would I not want to fight for the biggest payday in my life and put 10 weeks in the training camp? Why? Why would I not want to fight? … You’re calling me a coward, you rat bastard.”
Alalshikh said that he has medical issues and is in need of treatment, which he said he delayed at a New York hospital until the beginning of March in order to be present at the fight on Feb. 17 and that he staked his reputation on Fury’s injury being a legitimate training injury.
“I need to go to the hospital. It’s my health,” Alalshikh said. “If I think Tyson is scared of this fight I would not waste my time. The cut happened.”
He then referenced perhaps the most famous cut in boxing history that delayed a big fight — the one George Foreman suffered ahead of his title defense against Muhammad Ali, which was rescheduled a month later. That was “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974, which Ali won by upset eighth-round knockout to regain the title in dramatic fashion.
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