Tyson Fury suffers cut, undisputed title fight vs. Usyk postponed

Dan Rafael

Feb 02, 2024

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The Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk fight for the undisputed heavyweight title was postponed on Friday after Fury suffered a deep cut that required stitches over his right eye during a morning sparring session.

The cut happened just two weeks before Fury, the lineal/WBC champion, and Usyk, holder of the WBO, IBF and WBA titles, were set to meet in a pay-per-view bout dubbed “Ring of Fire” on Feb. 17 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The hugely anticipated showdown was to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era and the first since Lennox Lewis outpointed Evander Holyfield in their 1999 rematch to achieve undisputed status in the three-belt era.

“I am absolutely devastated after preparing for this fight for so long and being in such superb condition,” Fury said in a statement. “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 apologize to everyone affected including my own team, Team Usyk, the undercard fighters, partners, and fans as well as our hosts and my friends in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

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Queensberry Promotions, Fury’s co-promoter, said in the announcement of the postponement that the cut “required urgent medical attention and significant stitching, and will obviously require a period of recovery, scuppering any possibility of the fight with Usyk taking place” as scheduled.

A Queensberry Spokesman added, “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. Once known we will work diligently with all the stakeholders and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to reschedule this fight as soon as possible and will of course keep everyone updated with developments.”

There is a chance that the Feb. 17 event could still go forward with Usyk defending against IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs), 31, of Croatia, who is due the next IBF heavyweight title fight regardless of what would have happened between Fury and Usyk on that date even though they have a rematch clause. The IBF mandated that the winner would have to face Hrgovic next or would be stripped of the title and he would fight somebody else for the vacant belt.

Sources involved told Fight Freaks Unite that there are discussions taking place to see about the feasibility of Usyk-Hrgovic on short notice. Hrgovic, who has a multi-fight deal with the Saudis, fought on Dec. 23, stopping Mark De Mori in the first round, and came away with no injuries.

A 15-second video clip purported to be of the incident in which Fury was sparring with Croatian pro Agron Smakici (20-2, 18 KOs) surfaced online. It shows Smakici landing a left uppercut on Fury with his elbow apparently connecting on the follow through. It appeared to be accidental. Fury immediately reacted and walked away as he dabbed at the cut. They were both wearing head gear.

It’s not the first massive heavyweight title fight to be delayed due to a cut. Before Muhammad Ali challenged then-undisputed champion George Foreman and knocked him out in the eighth round of a massive upset to regain the title in Kinshasa, Zaire, in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974 — arguably the most famous fight in boxing history — it had been delayed from Sept. 24 to Oct. 30 because Foreman suffered a cut.

Fury has been in Riyadh training since right after Christmas, which seemed to show his level of commitment to training, having left his family even before New Year’s. Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs), 35, of England, was coming off a very shaky 10-round split decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who crossed over for his pro boxing debut, on Oct. 28 in Riyadh.

Ngannou dropped Fury in the third round, cut him and roughed him up in what would have been a monumental upset. Many thought Ngannou deserved to win.

Between the cut and having had a much harder fight than expected, Fury postponed the fight with Usyk, which was originally scheduled for Dec. 23.

The Saudis rescheduled Fury-Usyk for Feb. 17 and instead put together the “Day of Reckoning” card on short notice. It featured former heavyweight titleholders Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in the top two bouts designed to set them up for a long-awaited showdown. While Joshua dominated and stopped Otto Wallin in the main event, Joseph Parker upset Wilder via lopsided decision in the co-feature.

Fury-Usyk has been on the drawing board for ages. There was serious discussion of the fight happening in April 2023 in London, but it fell apart at the final stages over the terms of a rematch clause. Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), 37, of Ukraine, went on to knock out WBA “regular” titlist Daniel Dubois in a mandatory fight in August and then was lined up to finally fight Fury.

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Tyson Fury suffers cut, undisputed title fight vs. Usyk postponed

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