Fury’s father headbutts Usyk’s team
During the media day, before the fight between the British and the Ukrainian, Fury’s father ended up with a bloody head after an altercation.
Tyson Fury’s father headbutted a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s entourage on Monday in a bloody confrontation during the media day before the fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title, which will be held on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
John Fury, with a cut on his forehead and blood stains on his face, confirmed to Sky Sports his involvement in the incident, which happened during the event in Riyadh, where the two fighters were present.
“(He) disrespected my son, the best heavyweight to ever wear a pair of boxing gloves,” he said. “Coming out with all that rubbish. He was in my face, trying to be clever. Coming into my space (with) Usyk, Usyk...I was only chanting my own son’s name. So then he went a step closer and a step closer. So at the end of it, I’m a warrior, that’s what we do. We’re fighting people.”
Tyson Fury remains calm despite the incident
“If you come into my space, you’re going to get what’s coming”, he added. Sky reported that Saudi authorities stopped the incident. The fight, called Ring of Fire, will unify Fury’s WBC heavyweight championship with Usyk’s WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO belts. Both are undefeated boxers.
“I didn’t see anything, I was in the room doing interviews, but I’m not here for all that, I’m here to get the job done and go home and rest,” Sky quoted Tyson Fury.
The fight was originally scheduled for December 23 last year and after that, it was set for February 17 before being rescheduled again after Fury suffered a cut while sparring. Usyk’s manager, Alexander Krassyuk, expected Fury Sr. to apologize.
“It would be nice if we hear some apologies from John because this was his behavior”, he said. “We are the example for the whole world...a new generation of kids are taking us as an example. What will they see from this?”, he concluded.
Shortly after the incident, John Fury apologized, attributing his behavior to getting too emotional ahead of such an important fight. “Sincere apologies to everybody involved. It’s just the way we are. Emotions and tensions are running high”, he admitted.