Ringside
Photos above via Fury’s Instagram page: @tysonfury (Note: The video released by Fury was flipped, making it appear as though the cut was on the opposite eyebrow.)
TIRED OF TYSON
I’m not gonna lie. I was mad as hell at Tyson Fury when I learned the February 17 showdown with Oleksandr Usyk would be put on hold because of a cut he suffered in sparring.
I know it wasn’t his fault. I know it’s not uncommon for world-class boxers to spar two weeks – or even one week – out from their bouts. I know that big fight delays are part of boxing’s rich history (see Don Stradley’s excellent article in this issue for notable examples).
And I knew there was a risk in making Usyk vs. Fury the cover story for this issue, which had to be completed by the end of January to go live at the start of February due to the fight happening in the middle of the month. If the big event were to be put on hold – especially in February – we’d have to toss out several features, including the cover story, and scramble like hell for replacement content (hence the delay in the issue you’re reading now).
I also knew that if the first undisputed heavyweight championship in 25 years was canceled or delayed for any reason, Fury would be involved.
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And so it was. It’s always something with this guy. So, yeah, I cursed his name.
Now, to be clear, I don’t think for a second that Fury staged the cut as many fans and YouTube pundits claimed during the hours following the breaking news on February 2. However, I understood why the social media conspiracy theorists so vehemently accused him of looking for a way out of the fight.
The big man has a history of avoiding and delaying major bouts.
There was the rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, set for July 9, 2016, that was postponed to October 29 after Fury injured his ankle doing road work. The October bout was then canceled after Fury was declared “medically unfit” to box due to myriad mental health issues.
Peter Fury tweeted this photo of Tyson’s injured ankle in 2016.
Both Fury and Deontay Wilder had rematch clauses in their contracts for their first bout, which ended in a 12-round split draw in December 2018. Both heavyweights claimed they wanted to enact the clause (and the WBC ordered it) – with talk of the return bout taking place in the spring or early summer of 2019 – but only Wilder was serious about running it back immediately.
Fury signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank in February 2019, which put the Wilder rematch off for one year while the towering Englishman fought two ESPN-televised bouts in Las Vegas (the second of which threatened to push the rematch back even further due to the gruesome cuts Fury sustained while outpointing Otto Wallin).
To his credit, Fury absolutely thrashed Wilder in their February 2020 rematch, winning the vacant Ring Magazine championship and the WBC belt.
Prior to that career-best showing, the big goof agreed to a third bout with Wilder. However, between the rematch and the contractually obligated rubber match, Fury complicated matters when he teased Saudi Arabian financial backers and the boxing world with an all-British superclash with then-WBA/IBF/WBO titleholder Anthony Joshua.
The proposed undisputed championship – widely reported as a “done deal” to take place in Riyadh or Jeddah on August 14, 2021 – and the legal battle to get out of his contract with Wilder only served to jerk around the public and push the third bout to October 2021.
Let’s not forget that Usyk-Fury should have happened in 2023. Usyk was ready to go in late 2022, following his split decision over Joshua in August 2022, a repeat victory that earned him the Ring Magazine title that Fury had vacated while pretending to be retired during the spring and summer.
Fitness chain employees set up 200 life-size cutouts in Berlin to support Klitschko ahead of his rematch with Fury, but these 200 Wladimirs seemed to already know what was coming. (Photo by Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(If you recall, Fury announced his retirement immediately after defending the Ring and WBC titles against Dillian Whyte in April 2022. Nobody believed the big bullshitter, including the Ring Ratings Panel, which voted to continue recognizing him as the Ring champ, until he doubled down on his retirement claim on his 34th birthday on August 12. “Massive thanks to everyone who had an input in my career over the years,” Fury posted on Instagram, “after long hard conversations I’ve finally decided to walk away, and on my 34th birthday I say bon voyage.” With Usyk-Joshua II taking place on August 20, it made sense for the Ring title to be on the line since Usyk and Joshua were The Ring’s Nos. 1- and 2-rated heavyweights. Former managing editor Tom Gray talked Fury into vacating the belt the day after Fury’s birthday announcement.
Fury-Chisora III made money but not much sense. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
Of course, Fury was back in the ring that December, beating up on the beyond-shopworn Derek Chisora, a totally unnecessary rubber match but a big event at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a sweet payday for the “lineal” heavyweight king. When Fury says he’s “retired,” he means give me a shit ton of money if you want to see me in the ring.)
Usyk called Fury out immediately after the Joshua rematch. Fury’s response was to announce that he’d only face Usyk if someone was willing to put up the ridiculous sum of £500 million ($850 million), and he had the gall to issue a seven-day deadline (until September 1, 2022) for the pie-in-the-sky offer or he would go back into fake retirement.
Fury continued to insist on the lion’s share of any offer, effectively pricing himself out, for most of 2023, living up to the “Greedy Belly” nickname that Usyk gave him, until His Excellency Turki Alalshikh stepped in with at least $100 million split 70-30 in Fury’s favor.
The fight was finally set for December 23, but Greedy Belly first had to play around with an MMA fighter making his pro boxing debut in October.
It seemed like a relatively safe money-making venture for Fury (to the tune of a reported $40 million), but if anyone could fuck it up, it was him. Sure enough, the punishment he took during his awful 10-round showing against Francis Ngannou pushed the Usyk fight to February 17.
At least his pants were entertaining. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)
And now Fury’s cut moves it back to May 18.
Again, I don’t think Fury caused all of these delays on purpose.
I think he really did hurt his ankle in preparation for the Klitschko rematch. I believe his mental health issues were real and very serious. The co-promotional deal with Top Rank may have pushed back the Wilder rematch but it was good for the event, which became much bigger with Fury’s increased U.S. exposure and two monster sports networks – ESPN and FOX – joining forces to promote and produce the PPV.
I also think Fury (along with Bob Arum and Frank Warren) really believed the return-bout clause for the Wilder rubber match had expired when they entered negotiations with Team Joshua, Matchroom and the Saudis. The Pandemic also had a lot to do with the delay.
We all know Fury didn’t expect Ngannou to drop him and trouble him for 10 rounds. And the cut he suffered while sparring Agron Smakici (another MMA fighter; you’d think he’d learn to stay away from these guys) was just an unfortunate accident in the gym.
But there’s no denying that the 35-year-old veteran is prone to bad luck and fuckery, and I am sick of it.
Having said all of that, I hope Fury’s cut heals fast. I hope he has the best camp of his career going into the May 18 moment of truth. I want to see the version of Fury that befuddled Klitschko and overwhelmed Wilder in their rematch. Anything less will not be enough to beat Usyk, who you better believe I’m rooting for.
Doug Fischer is Editor-in-Chief of The Ring Magazine. Email him at [email protected].
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